Worth Mining
by classicdisneyFTW
Summary: "There are few things I really care about in this world. My best friend reindeer, Sven, and ice. And my sled. I love my sled." Frozen told from Kristoff's POV.
1. My Story

_I'm back! And back on Disney! I saw Frozen and it was only like the best thing since sliced bread! I saw it several more times after my first viewing (I won't specify, so you won't think I'm a freak). But, I just had to write something for it. I had a couple things going through my head, but this is what I actually wrote down, so here we go. I hope you enjoy!_

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There are few things I really care about in this world. My best friend reindeer, Sven, and ice. And my sled. I love my sled.

Early on, I decided people were not my friends. People were really just there to pay me money and give me supplies. And even then, they would almost always find way to try and cheat you out of what you already had.

My parents both died when I was seven. Frostbite. A horrible way to go. We lived outside of the kingdom, not quite the kind of backwoods mountain people you typically think of, but high up enough that there was always a consistent layer of snow. Anyways, one winter, we had to go out to get supplies. They took me with them down into the kingdom, and on our way back, a blizzard came out of nowhere. As we searched for shelter, my parents unwittingly stumbled over thin ice... There was nothing I could do. They were exposed to the freezing water for too long and even after they did manage to get themselves out, the icy wind from the blizzard only made everything worse. They did not last through the week.

There was no one to look after me after that, we did live in recluse after all, so I just left home. Headed up into the mountains all on my own. Seven years old. That's when I found the ice harvesters. Sawing up ice, loading the blocks onto the biggest sleds I had ever seen in my life, and using some of the strangest looking tools I had ever seen.

They didn't exactly take me in, because why would they do that? But I found a spot in the horse stables to sleep. I spent several days just sleeping and really not doing anything in those stables until one day, a particularly large ice harvester found me.

"Hey, you kid! What are you doing here?" he demanded in a deep voice.

Terrified, I didn't answer.

"Don't you have some place to be? Where are your parents?" the ice harvester asked.

Still terrified, and now hurt because this huge man had brought up my parents, I began to cry. I tried to hold back the tears, determined to be brave, but I couldn't stop them. I huddled up against the stable wall and hid my face from the burly man.

I heard him sigh. "Look, kid," he said, "You can't stay here unless you're working."

I turned one eye up towards him, the tears suddenly halting. Work? With them?

The ice harvester reached behind him and grabbed something, then dropped it in front of me. It was a pick axe. "Welcome aboard, kid," he said, "Just follow what everyone else is doing."

With that, he turned on his heel and exited the stables. Once he was gone I stood and attempted to pick up the pick axe. I could barely lift it. It was nearly as tall as I was! Still, I attempted to drag it out of the stables anyways.

My first day went terribly, as did the second and third. Actually, the entire first week went horribly. I was too small to really do anything. All the ice harvesters were huge! The horses were huge! The sleds were huge! The tools were huge! The blocks of ice they cut and hauled were huge! Everything was huge! And me... I was not. I could not even lift any of the tools, much less cut through any of the ice and haul it to a sled.

Once Sven came along, the job became a bit easier, since he could actually pull the banged up, rinky-dink sled that I had found in a trash barrel, much faster than I could.

I suppose you're wondering how I met Sven in the first place. It's not much of a story, really. He just wandered into the barn one night, after I had been working with the ice harvesters a few months, same as I had, looking for food and a place to sleep. I happened to be munching on a carrot at the time, so I offered it to him. He happily accepted it and then never left my side. He even followed me to work the next day and enthusiastically tried helping me out.

A year after I had joined the ice business was when my opinion of people really began to downgrade.

I had enthusiastically accepted my role as a budding ice harvester and was determined to become the best in the business. Even though I still could barely manage to get one small block of ice onto my tiny sled by the end of the day, I was still happy with my progress. And Sven still stuck around, helping me in any way he could. We would share carrots, harvest ice, and then by the end of the day we would follow after the other ice harvesters on their big sleds to go into town to sell it. It was also around this time that I got adopted by a family of trolls, but we'll get to them later.

I actually did manage to sell my little ice blocks, so I had a little bit of my own money even at eight years old. Although looking back, it was probably just out of sympathy that those people purchased anything from me at that point.

Anyways, there was one particular day that I can pinpoint when I really began to lose faith in humanity.

Sven and I were headed for the usual selling spot when a rather large, mustachioed man approached us. "Hey kid, where are you going with that?" he asked, gesturing to my sled.

I looked at my single block of ice, then back to him. "To the ice stand," I said, "To sell it."

The corners of his mouth turned up. "You're going to sell that?" he asked, starting to laugh, "You'll never get anything for that puny thing."

I frowned at him and puffed out my chest. "I've done it before," I told him as bravely as possible.

The man smirked then looked at my ice again. "Alright kid, I'll make you a deal," he said, "I've been pretty short on ice these past few weeks. Those ice harvesters over there sell it for way too much. But you, I will give you _three whole crowns_ for yours. How does that sound?"

Three? _Three_? Did he think I was dumb or something? I normally sold mine for at least five if not more. It depended on the season. I crossed my arms and frowned at him. "No," I told him flatly.

The man's grin immediately dropped and he stooped down to my level, shoving his nose in my face. "Look, kid, you should take the deal," he said gruffly, "You won't get a better deal than this, or else you'll be stuck with your itty-bitty little reindeer and no money at all."

I glared back at him. "I can sell it," I said confidently.

The man stood back up to full height. "Alright, kid. You asked for it."

Suddenly, before I could react, he made a grab for my ice block, picked it up, and dashed off at full speed.

"Hey! Stop!" I called after him, but it was too late. He was gone.

I stared in the direction that he had disappeared. I had just been cheated by a complete stranger. I sighed in frustration then sat down on my sled, resting my chin in my hands. Sven came up beside me and nuzzled me in the shoulder.

I sighed. "It's OK, Sven," I said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible, "We'll... we'll get more ice tomorrow."

That was only the first time I had been cheated out of my work or money or something. Over the years, people took advantage of my small size, my naivety, etc. for their own personal gain. Once I got conned into mucking out this man's stables because he said he'd pay me triple for the ice if I would, but then he didn't pay me at all. He didn't even take the ice.

However, I just continued on with my work, day after day for years, gradually earning money for more and more different things. At first, I was only digging through trash barrels for supplies (after all, that was where I found my first sled), and I actually found some pretty quality stuff for trash. It's surprising what people will throw away. When I was about nine, I even found a lute. It had one or two broken strings, but after some mending, I got it in perfect playable shape and began to experiment. I am self-taught. I can't afford lessons.

By the time I was sixteen, I decided I really needed a new sled, because my tiny one was really not cutting it for my... sudden size change. Because at fourteen, I suddenly hit my growth spurt and shot up about two and a half feet taller. With that, I was able to haul at least ten times more ice than I had before, so I also added several pounds of muscle along with my height. Yes, I became rather large and stocky. My childhood dream had come true.

However, when I went looking for a suitable sled to replace my extremely small one that I had been using since I was seven, I could not manage to find a half-decent one within my price range. They were all either nice/decent and expensive, or falling apart/too small and a reasonable price.

After a day or two of searching, I was lucky enough to find a man who had a decent enough sled for sale who let me make small payments every year until I was able to pay it off.

I was cheated considerably less after my size change. I was, after all, significantly taller than the average man now. Even though I was still quite younger than most of the people I dealt with, I had learned over the years how to appear calloused in a business-like way and to not take anyone's nonsense. I had different tactics for selling ice, it just depended on the customer. I would determine what kind of person they were, then choose my tactic. Sympathy, no-nonsense, reverse psychology, and so on.

But, as I said, although _some_ were not so bad, there weren't any people that I truly, deeply cared about.

Alright, so now that you know my story, I'll start with the real story...


	2. An Unexpected Blizzard

_Wow, I've gotten so much positive feedback already. Thank you so much! You're lucky I already had the next chapter written just in case. So a fast first update! :D_

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This story _officially_ begins back when I was eight. So I'll just briefly cover what happened then.

It was at the end of a long day of ice harvesting. Sven and I were way behind the other harvesters with our one block of ice, on the road into town. It was late at night and still dark outside, but the Northern Lights lit up the sky, so it seemed earlier than it was.

I was exhausted and just sat on the ice block as Sven pulled the sled along. But suddenly two horses came racing past us, going in the opposite direction. The riders did not even notice us as they sped by. I would not have really paid them any notice either except for one thing caught my attention: a thick blanket of ice trailed behind one of them.

My eyes lit up at the sight of it. "Ice?" I wondered, intrigued.

I quickly unhitched Sven from the sled and hopped on his back. We followed the ice trail at top speed until we came to the Black Mountains. I could hear a man speaking. I hopped off of Sven's back and ducked behind a rock, pulling Sven behind it as well.

I could not hear very well from my position, but I had a clear view. There was a man and a woman, and a young girl with light blonde hair, probably about my age at their side. The woman was holding a bundle of blankets. Peering closer, I saw that there was another young girl wrapped up amongst the blankets. Was she asleep?

"Please, help!" the man cried out, "My daughter!"

Who was he talking to? There was no one as far as I could see. Just a bunch of rocks.

However, the rocks suddenly began to move! I gasped, watching them roll towards the people. The rocks all stopped short of crushing them and then unfolded into strange little creatures, who stared up at the man.

I had ducked down behind my own rock and did not hear what they had to say at this point. However after a moment, I peered back over, wide-eyed. "Trolls?" I wondered, staring at the strange creatures.

Suddenly, the rock I was hiding behind unfolded into a troll. "Shh! I'm trying to listen!" it said, grabbing mine and Sven's faces and pulling us down.

It was a female, that much I could tell. Sven licked her cheek and I gave a small smile of intrigue. She seemed to suddenly become fully aware of us and grinned, patting our cheeks affectionately. "Cuties," she cooed, "I'm gonna keep you."

We all turned our attention back to what was happening in the center. An extremely old troll was now talking to the family of humans. "Your majesties, born with the powers, or cursed?" it asked, taking the blonde girl's hand.

"Born," the man replied, "And they're getting stronger."

The old troll inspected the girl in the blanket. I could now see she had a white streak of hair on one side of her head. The old troll gave a sigh of relief. "You are lucky it wasn't her heart," he said, "The heart is not so easily changed. But the head can be persuaded."

"Do what you must," the man said.

"I recommend we remove all magic, even memories of magic," the old troll said, "Just to be safe." I watched as he pulled a glowing blue light from the girl's head. I could not see clearly, but he seemed to be changing or rewriting whatever was in the light.

"But don't worry. I'll leave the fun," the troll said. He replaced the light back into the girl's head. "She will be okay."

"But she won't remember I have powers?" the blonde girl asked.

"It's for the best," I guess he was her father, said.

"Listen to me. Your power will only grow," the old troll said to her. He waved his hand to manipulate the Northern Lights to demonstrate what he was saying. "There is beauty in your magic. But also great danger. You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy."

The young girl hugged her father, frightened. "No," her father said, "We'll protect her."

That was really the last I heard of the conversation, because I was suddenly whisked away by the female troll who had a hold of me and Sven. She had been serious about wanting to keep us.

She introduced herself as Bulda and then to her husband, Cliff. Soon we were introduced to the entire group. All of them absolutely adored us and were completely on board with us staying. Since I did not have a home or a family, I decided what did I have to lose with staying?

I actually grew to really love it. After all, I had no one to look after me since me parents... And the trolls were all just so lively and they all cared about everyone and everything. They were absolutely crazy about me. The little ones always fought for my attention: "Kristoff, look at this!" or "Kristoff, come play with us!" or "Kristoff, pick me up!".

Once that last one started, all of them wanted in. I could never really pick any of them up until I was in my teens since they actually weighed as much as the rock they were.

You might be surprised that trolls actually do things like cook food, do laundry, sew clothes, play games, have school, and so on. Just... a little differently than humans do. But that's how I grew up. With trolls.

Anyways, back to the story...

Thirteen years after I had followed those people to the trolls and got adopted, things really started to get crazy. I had not even thought about that event ever again after it happened and had completely forgotten about it. However, it was just about to come back and smack me in the face.

I had to go into Arendelle on this particular day because today was the day I made my last payment on my sled! After today it would officially be mine! No more debts, no more payments.

The streets were unusually crowded and the docks were full of ships because today also happened to be the coronation of the new queen, and dignitaries were swarming in from practically every country imaginable. Everyone was so excited because for the first time in years, the castle gates were finally opening.

I did not care much for the coronation. Too many people. Parties? Not really my thing. I was just there to give the last payment on my sled, then I was going to head off to work.

However, with everyone so happy and lively, I couldn't help but be so myself. And especially since I was about to officially own my sled, I was almost downright giddy. I stood near the docks, waiting for Wilhelm (the man who I bought the sled from) to show up. I watched the May Pole being raised nearby. Sven nudged me in the shoulder and I turned to look at him, smiling.

"What do you want, Sven?" I asked.

I could tell what he wanted. I could see it in his eyes. I changed my voice to answer for him. "Give me a snack."

I took out a carrot and held it above his head. "What's the magic word?" I asked.

I changed my voice again. "Please!"

Sven immediately jumped up and grabbed the entire thing. Now, he knew better. We always shared our carrots ever since we were little. It was how we had bonded in the first place. "Ah, ah, ah," I reprimanded him in good-nature, "Share."

He quickly spit it back out and took a smaller bite. I took the rest and took a bite myself.

"Kristoff!"

I turned and saw Wilhelm approaching. He stopped beside me and pulled a scroll from a satchel hanging at his side. He began to study it closely. "Hmm, let's see..." he mumbled, "Here you are. Ah! Your last payment, I see."

I nodded. "Yes. I have it here."

I pulled a bag of money from my pocket and held it out to him. He took it, then opened it and peered in at the money. After a moment, he looked back at me. "All seems to be in order," he said, "The sled is yours."

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It was a good day. The sled was officially mine, there was a shortage of harvesters since practically everyone was at the coronation (so more ice for those of us who stuck around), and it was a fairly warm day even for the mountains.

"Mornin', Kristoff!" a harvester with a dark bushy beard called out to me from on top of one of the sleds.

"Morning, Jude," I replied, "How's Judith?" I know. Jude and Judith. What are the odds of that? He was one of the friendlier harvesters I had met, so I had no problem with keeping up a conversation with him.

"Oh she's doin' grand!" Jude replied, "She actually took the kids down to the coronation this mornin'. I would've gone too, but we're a little short on money this month so I had to come work extra."

I nodded, grabbing an ice pick from nearby and setting it in my sled. "Why aren't you at the coronation?" Jude asked.

I shrugged. "Someone has to come here and load all the extra ice onto the sleds. You're not going to do it, are you?"

Jude chuckled. "That's for sure. I'm not as spry as I used to be. But shouldn't a young fella like yourself be out there meetin' people? Havin' some fun. You never know, you could even meet a nice girl."

I rolled my eyes. That was the last thing on my mind. All I wanted was to harvest ice, sell it, and make money to pay my bills. Besides, while men usually were the ones who cheated and cursed at you, women were... just there. Don't get me wrong, I did not think they were useless, it's just that well, while the men annoyed me, the women did not interest me at all. They all did the same thing every day, talked about the same things, had the same dreams. At least have some ambition or liveliness already! There was so much more to life than just what you were going to buy at the market that day.

"Thanks," I said to Jude, "But right now I'm sticking to what I'm good at."

With that, I hopped on my sled, and Sven and I rode off to our usual spot to start work.

Work was good, even if we did have to work extra hard with the shortage of workers. I did manage to load up my sled by the end of the day though. The sun had just set when I hooked up Sven and firmly secured the ice in place to begin our trek down the mountain.

It was earlier than I would normally leave the site, but my sled was full. I had even helped the others hitch up the other sleds and I was still ready to leave well before the normal time.

Sven and I headed down the mountain. We weren't in any hurry, so we just moved along at a careless pace. Normally we sped down the mountain. We loved going at top speed. But after such a hard day's work, neither of us were really in the mood for fast.

A slight, rather brisk breeze blew through the trees around us. I shrugged it off. That was normal for this time of day up this high. As we continued on, I realized that I had run out of carrots for Sven. We would have to stop somewhere and buy some more.

I suddenly noticed that it had begun to snow. Not usual for this time of year, but not entirely unheard of at this altitude. We still moved on and I ignored the falling white flakes around us. Where was a place nearby to buy carrots?

I felt very cold all of a sudden. That was strange. I was in cold temperatures all the time. I worked around ice for crying out loud! Why should I be cold now when I was halfway down the mountain? It should be getting warmer, not colder. Nevertheless, I shivered and pulled my scarf up over my face.

It was a lucky thing I did because at that moment, a violent wind came literally out of nowhere and nearly blew the sled over. I felt snow and ice pelt against me as I was flung backwards into the back of the sled by the force of the wind. I struggled to sit up, using my arms to shield my face from the blizzard. "What the...?" I muttered to myself.

I could barely see Sven just in front of me, ducking away from the flying ice and snow. It was strange. The blizzard seemed to be coming from the north. The wind had just been blowing from the east a moment ago like it always did in the summer. Why should everything suddenly change directions?

As strange as it was, I knew that I had to get out of this blizzard as soon as possible. I remembered that there was a little trading post not too far off. I had passed it several times in the past, but had never been inside. Well, there was a first time for everything. If I could just make it there without freezing to death.

I climbed back to the front of the sled and grabbed the reins. "Come on, buddy!" I shouted over the wind.

Sven began to move forward, pushing against the wind. If we were moving at a slow pace before, it was even worse now. It seemed like hours before we even made it down the first half of the mountain. That was when the crazy blizzard finally began to calm down. But we still had a little ways to go before we reached our destination.

As we continued on, I saw that snow covered everything around us, even though we were not so high up in the mountains any longer. I still felt a brisk wind blowing in from the north. It was so odd. It should be much warmer now that I was no longer at the top of the mountain. It seemed that winter had decided to come early.

I spotted the hut just ahead. Sven snorted at me. I was sure he was hungry after that wild trek through the snow storm. "Yes, Sven. I'll get you some carrots," I told him through my ice-covered scarf.

Looking around at the snow-covered terrain, I guessed I would need a few winter supplies too. In summer. What was happening?


	3. Oaken's

I know, I know. I suppose you're wondering what any of this has to do with my first night with the trolls and what I meant when I said that it was going to come back and slap me in the face. Well just be patient, I'm getting there. First, I have to get into the little shop. 'Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna' is what it was called.

I slammed the door behind me and proceeded to shake as much of the ice and snow off me as possible. I remained mostly covered, but that could hardly be helped, so I merely proceeded to move further inside.

The place was completely empty except for the owner behind the counter and one young woman, probably not much younger than myself, in a fancy formal gown. She looked like some sort of an aristocrat, which would explain why she was wearing only that dress in such horrid weather as what was raging outside. Not even a cloak or something to cover her exposed shoulders. Aristocrats didn't know anything about these mountains. Seriously, what was she thinking? Was she crazy?

"Big summer blowout," the owner, Oaken, said to me cheerfully, holding up a bottle of what looked like some sort of cream.

I ignored him. I spotted some carrots under the counter and proceeded to move towards them. The young woman backed away from me, uncomfortably. I would have paid her no heed except for she was standing right in front of my intended target. So I looked at her as she leaned away from me. "Carrots," I said simply, through my ice-covered scarf.

"Huh?" she asked, confused.

"Behind you," I told her.

She looked back and saw the carrots. "Oh, right. Excuse me," she said. She quickly moved out of the way.

I picked up the carrots and plopped them on the counter, then immediately headed to the back of the shop to where I had spotted a rope and a pick axe.

"Ooh, a real howler in July, yes?" Oaken said in his same jolly voice, "Wherever could it be coming from?"

"The North Mountain," I replied flatly. Well, that wild blizzard that had nearly blown me to the next country had come in from the North Mountain's direction, so I could only conclude that that was where it had originated from.

"The North Mountain?" the young woman repeated softly

"That'll be forty," Oaken said as I set the rope and pick on the counter beside the carrots.

"Forty?" I repeated incredulously, "No, ten."

"Oh dear, that's no good," Oaken replied, "See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."

Was he for real? I had bigger problems on my hands at the moment. If this snow didn't let up soon, I would be out of a job. Ice was always hardest to sell during the winter season.

"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living," I told him, gesturing out the window to my sled where all my ice blocks sat, snow-covered.

"Ooh, that's a rough business to be in right now," the young woman chuckled from my side, "I mean that is really..."

I shot her an unamused look from over my scarf. I already knew that my ice business was in trouble without her rubbing it in my face, thank you very much.

Her face immediately dropped at the sight of mine. She cleared her throat, "...that's unfortunate."

"Still forty," Oaken said simply, "But I will throw in a visit to Oaken's Sauna."

He pointed to a nearby door and waved. "Hi, family!"

A small group of people waved back through the steamy window. Yeah. No thank you.

I decided to fall back on my business tactics. Sometimes people could be won over through sympathy. I decided to give it a try. "Ten's all I got," I said desperately, "Help me out."

"Okay," Oaken said, pushing the carrots forward, "That will get you this and no more."

I frowned at Oaken. Sympathy was not working. I was going to have to change my tactic.

The young woman suddenly spoke up again. "Okay just tell me one thing," she said to me, "What was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem... magical?"

Having absolutely no interest in discussing anything with her, I pulled down my scarf and frowned at her. It _did_ as a matter of fact, but I did not want to have this discussion at this particular time. Actually at any time. "Yes," I said impatiently, "Now back up while I deal with this crook here."

At that, Oaken slowly stood up from behind the counter. He was tall. And when I say tall, I mean his head almost touched the ceiling. He was at least a good foot taller than me. And I was pretty tall myself. My eyes widened slightly at the sight. I had not been expecting that.

He stared down at me looking not angry, but almost hurt? "What did you call me?" he asked.

The next thing I knew, I was being picked up and tossed out face-first into the snow. "Bye-bye!" Oaken called in his same old jolly voice as he shut the door.

I sat up, sputtering. He did not seem the type who threw people out, nor did I think he would be so stubborn and unsympathetic. However, I had not realized how excessively large he had been either, so what did I really know?

I became aware of Sven sniffing me, hopefully. "No, Sven. I didn't get your carrots," I told him. He grunted in disappointment. "But I did find us a place to sleep," I said trying to sound as upbeat as possible, "And it's free."

I gestured to the barn nearby.

So, Sven and I set up for the night in the barn, on a stack of straw. Just like old times. I pulled out my lute and began to strum. After being ripped off in the store, I figured my old lullaby that I always sang to Sven as kids, 'Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People', would be suitable. Being only ten when I wrote it, I had thought you added an "S" onto the end of everything, hence the title.

"Reindeers are better than people,  
Sven, don't you think that's true?" I sang.

I changed my voice for Sven: "Yeah, people will beat you, and curse you, and cheat you  
Every one of them's bad except you."

"Aw, thanks buddy.  
But people smell better than reindeers.  
Sven, don't you think I'm right?"

I changed my voice again: "That's once again true, for all except you."

"You got me. Let's call it a night."

"Good night."

"Don't let the frostbite bite."

I laid back against the straw and closed my eyes, ready for sleep. However, the barn door suddenly opened. "Nice duet."

I immediately sat up with a start, worried it was Oaken or somebody, ready to throw us out. But it was the young woman who had been in the shop earlier. Now she was dressed in proper winter attire and her red hair was twisted into two braids beside her head. I now noticed that she had a pure white streak of hair on the right side of her head amongst the red. Why did that seem familiar?

I relaxed at the sight of her. "Oh. It's just you," I sighed, "What do you want?"

"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," she replied.

I stared at her for a moment. Was she serious? Why on earth would I want to do that? There were about a million reasons why I did not want to do that. I laid back against the straw. "I don't take people places," I said simply, covering my face with my hat.

"Let me rephrase that," she said.

Something very heavy and hard suddenly hit me in the gut. I sat up again with a grunt. It was a bag. Upon closer inspection, I found that it contained the rope and pick axe I had failed to purchase from Oaken's.

"Take me up the North Mountain," the young woman said firmly, "Please."

I stared at her again, cynically. She must have really wanted to go up there badly for her to purchase this stuff for a complete stranger. She must also be completely crazy to want to go up the North Mountain, because getting there was no picnic, especially for someone with no experience in the mountains.

"Look, I know how to stop this winter," she said.

I sighed. I knew she would never make it on her own after seeing her in that dress in Oaken's shop. I had lived in those mountains basically my entire life, I could definitely take her... But that would mean, me and her together for an extended amount of time. I didn't know if I would be able to handle it. I mentioned how I felt about women, right? On the other hand, if she really _did_ know how to stop the winter, my ice business would be back on schedule.

I didn't want to appear too eager to help her though. Besides, I needed sleep. So I laid back on the straw again and covered my face with my hat once more. "We leave at dawn," I told her, dryly, "And you forgot the carrots."

Something else, also rather hard, hit me in the face. I grunted again and held my throbbing cheek.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry!" she cried. She caught herself and quickly cleared her throat, then straightened up, trying to appear as though she were in command. She frowned down at me. "We leave now," she said in a significantly deeper voice than before, "Right now."

Holding her head high, she turned and walked out of the barn. I just stared after her, perplexed. I took a carrot from the bag she had just chucked at my face and handed it to Sven, then took a bite myself, still staring after her.

I didn't normally do what other people told me, but I figured we could leave now. What could it hurt, really? She was very determined. And it would get it over with more quickly if we left sooner. Besides, she sort of intrigued me for some reason.


	4. Anna

So, I loaded up my sled once again in preparation for our journey. I unloaded the ice blocks I had harvested and left them sitting beside the barn. A waste of a hard day's work, but it wasn't like the North Mountain was an easy journey that could be reached in merely an hour or so. Those heavy blocks of ice would just slow us down, so I had to make some sacrifices. I knew that as soon as I had agreed to this journey.

As I was loading up, my travel companion came up behind me. "I'm Anna, by the way," she said.

"Kristoff," I said shortly, not looking at her as I wrapped up a blanket and set it on the back of the sled.

"And who's this?" she asked in a sweet, cooing voice.

Now I turned my head to look. She was scratching Sven under the chin, smiling. Sven seemed equally pleased with the attention. He grunted with pleasure and raised his chin so she could scratch more ground with ease.

I walked over to them and grabbed Sven's harness, pulling him to the front of the sled so I could hook him up. "This is Sven," I told her.

She smiled sweetly. "Hi, Sven."

Sven snorted his hello. I continued with attaching him to the sled and ignored their little bonding moment.

After a moment of silence, I began to wonder if she really did know how to stop this sudden, unexplained winter. I trusted that she did because why would she make such a ridiculous claim, buy a random stranger supplies, and recruit them to take her up the North Mountain if she didn't? But still, what was it all about?

"So," I said, "What's with this winter anyways? What happened?"

She heaved a sigh and looked down at her feet. "Well, it was my sister," she replied.

Her... sister? Alright. Maybe she would expound a little more.

"See, she has these snow powers... or ice powers. Or both. I don't really know. I just found out she had them today at her coronation."

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Her _coronation_? Her sister was _the queen!?_ But then that would make her...

"Wait a minute," I cut her off, "Are you telling me that you're the princess?"

She looked at me as if this news were the most normal thing in the world. As if she had just told me she had just bought some fish at the market or something. "Well, yeah," she replied.

Right, okay. I'm escorting the princess of Arendelle to the North Mountain now. Fantastic. That would explain the gown she had been wearing earlier and how she was able to afford all those supplies. After a moment, the initial shock of it wore off and I just accepted it. If she wanted to go up the North Mountain with me, then so be it.

I finished tying up Sven and hopped onto the sled, I lit the lantern hanging at the front and then grabbed the reins. "Ready to go," I told her.

She smiled brightly and climbed in beside me.

I snapped the reins and Sven immediately took off at a very fast pace. I almost grinned. It had been a while since I had just taken a trip in my sled. Often I was too busy focusing on the ice in tow to really think about the ride itself.

"Hang on," I told Anna, "We like to go fast."

Anna smiled and rested her feet up on the front of the sled. "I like fast," she replied.

Appalled by her action, I immediately pushed her feet back down to the floor of the sled. About a week ago, I had brought the sled into town and had it mended after a rather nasty accident with a toppling iceberg. That meant fresh paint and a brand new coat of lacquer. I was not about to let her dirty boots mess it up when I had just paid good money to perfect it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Get your feet down!" I told her sternly, beginning to inspect the tainted area, "This is fresh lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?"

I found so signs of any mark, but just to be sure, I spit on the area and gave it a shine with my sleeve. Did I mention I loved my sled?

"No," Anna replied, "I was raised in a castle."

Right, right. She was the princess. And she still had not fully explained how her sister had set off this winter right in the middle of summer.

"So tell me, what made the queen go all ice crazy?" I asked.

"Oh, well... it was all my fault," she replied, "I got engaged, but then she freaked out because I'd only just met him, you know, that day. And she said she wouldn't bless the marriage!"

What? She what? That day? She was going to marry someone after only knowing him for a _day!?_ Alright, my initial assessment of her being crazy had been correct after all.

"Wait... you got engaged to someone you met that day?" I asked, just to be sure I had heard her correctly.

"Yeah," she said, not seeing anything wrong with the scenario and quickly moving on, "Anyway, I got mad and so she got mad. And then she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove..."

I was still stuck on her engagement and didn't really hear much more of her narrative. A day. One day. Seriously? Was she completely insane? In fact, I was so put off by it, that had to turn away from the front and towards her. "Hang on," I stopped her, "You mean to tell me you got _engaged_ to someone you just met _that day!?_"

"Yes. Pay attention," she said, still not understanding why this should phase me at all and continued to tell her story. "But the thing is, she wore the gloves all the time. So I just thought, maybe she has a thing about dirt."

I stared at her incredulously. "Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?"

Now she looked at me. I saw her eyes flit over me quickly and she edged away from me uncomfortably. "Yes they did," she said cautiously.

I rolled my eyes and turned back towards the front. Not exactly what I meant, but maybe she had a lick of sense after all.

"But Hans is not a stranger," she said. Or not.

I smirked. "Oh yeah? What's his last name?"

She scoffed. "Of-the-Southern-Isles."

"What's his favorite food?"

"Sandwiches."

"Best friend's name?"

"Probably John."

"Eye color?"

"Dreamy."

"Foot size?"

"Foot size doesn't matter."

"Have you even had a meal with him yet?" I asked, turning towards her again, "What if you hate the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?"

"Picks his nose?" she repeated.

"And eats it," I added smugly, very much enjoying pushing her buttons.

She glared at me. "Excuse me, sir. He is a prince."

I just shrugged. "All men do it," I said as a matter-of-factly.

"Ew!" she said, wrinkling her nose, "Look, it doesn't matter. It's true love."

I almost scoffed at that. Just because you get swept off your feet by someone's "dreamy" eyes and love of sandwiches, does not make them your soulmate. "Doesn't sound like true love," I said.

She _did_ scoff at that. "Are you some sort of love expert?"

Well, since I spent most of my time either harvesting ice and ignoring people, or selling ice and ignoring people, I'd say I was not. However, I knew that Grandpappie, Bulda, and the others knew lots about it.

"No," I confessed, "But, I have friends who are."

"_You_ have friends who are love experts?" Anna asked cynically, "I'm not buying it."

At that moment, I suddenly became aware of some movement around us. "Stop talking," I warned her.

"No, no," she said, misunderstanding my tone, "I'd like to meet these-"

"No, I mean it," I said sternly, covering her mouth.

I pulled Sven to a halt. Anna removed my hand, annoyed, but remained quiet. I picked up the lantern and began to scan the terrain, cautiously. Something was out there. And whatever it was, it was not good. All the friendly animals were asleep by this time. Mostly only the predators were up now. So far I did not see anything.

I turned my head and squinted into the darkness. Then I saw a pair of yellow eyes peering at us in the distance from amongst the trees. Then another pair appeared. And another and another. Soon there were several gleaming eyes glaring at us from the trees. It was a pack of wolves!

Panic began to rise in my chest. I quickly stuck the lantern back on its perch. "Sven, go. Go!" I urged.

Sven immediately took off running.

"What are they?" Anna asked.

"Wolves," I said.

"Wolves!?" she repeated, worried.

I quickly sprung into action for fighting them off. Wolves were not so easy to outrun, they were fast even for a reindeer. Especially if it was pulling a sled with two people on it. I rummaged through the back of the sled, looking for the torch I had packed.

Anna watched me. "What do we do?"

"I got this," I said, finally finding the torch and lighting it with the lantern, "You just don't fall off and don't get eaten."

Anna attempted to grab something from the back. "But I want to help!" she insisted.

I pulled her back and put myself between her and the back of the sled. "No!"

"Why not?"

The wolves were fast approaching. I could clearly see them in the torch light. "Because I don't trust your judgement," I told her, still keeping my eyes on the wolves.

"Excuse me?" she asked, clearly offended.

A wolf leaped at us, but I lifted my foot and, with some effort, managed to kick it back. "Who marries a man she just met?" I demanded.

Anna picked up the first thing her hand reached in the back of the sled, which happened to be my lute, raised it over her head, and hollered, "It's TRUE LOVE!"

She swung the lute towards me, and I thought I had finally ticked her off enough that she was attempting to hit me over the head. But it just so happened that she was aiming for a wolf that was leaping towards me instead. She completely wiped out the wolf and it fell away. She smiled proudly at me and I couldn't help, but be a little impressed by her boldness.

However, in my moment of shock, a wolf suddenly grabbed a hold of my sleeve and yanked me right off the sled. I lost hold of the torch as I desperately grabbed for something on the sled. My hands found a loose rope hanging off and I was soon dragging behind the fast-moving sled, clinging on for dear life, right in line with the wolves.

"Christopher!" Anna called after me.

_Christopher?_ If you're going to holler my name into the night, say it right. "It's _Kristoff!_" I yelled back.

The wolves began snapping at me and I cried out as their teeth came dangerously close to tearing my flesh. I was far too focused on avoiding getting my arm or my leg chewed off to really see what was happening on the sled, but the next thing I knew, Anna was shouting, "Duck!"

I looked up just in time to see a ball of fire hurtling towards my head. I screamed and ducked. The fire hit the wolves and they fell back momentarily, giving me enough time to begin pulling myself up the rope and back onto the sled. As I climbed, I became a bit peeved that I had almost been turned into a roasted snack for the wolves.

"You almost set me on fire!" I yelled at Anna.

"But I didn't!" she said proudly, helping me up.

Once in the sled, I looked back at the wolves once more. Anna suddenly tapped me on the chest and gasped, looking ahead with wide eyes. I looked ahead as well and also gasped. We were fast approaching a large chasm.

I quickly did some assertions and calculations. Sven could easily jump it, but not with a sled. He could jump it by himself and probably with one person on his back, but not with two. The sled would make it part way, but not all the way. I knew Anna would not be able to make a leap off the sled like I could. So I immediately made up my mind that she would be riding Sven over the chasm. I could probably make it. Maybe? We would have to see.

"Get ready to jump, Sven!" Anna called out to Sven.

Annoyed, I grabbed my bag of supplies and shoved it into her arms. "You don't tell him what to do!" I said, "I do!"

I easily picked her up and tossed her onto Sven's back. I pulled out my knife and looked ahead, waiting. And... now! "Jump, Sven!" I ordered, and cut through his bindings.

Sven jumped and he and the sled sailed over the chasm. Sven and Anna safely landed on the other side. I climbed to the very front of the sled. Just as it began to lose momentum, I made a great leap towards the other side. I flew through the air and just managed to make it, landing flat on my face.

I looked back and saw the wolves halt at the edge of the other side of the chasm, almost glaring at us. I let out a sigh of relief.

Then I looked down to the bottom of the chasm and saw my sled, completely smashed to pieces. I watched as it suddenly burst into flames. No, no, no! My beautiful sled! The one thing I had worked so hard to earn. The only thing that was truly mine. Gone.

"Aww. But I just paid it off," I groaned sadly, watching my poor sled go up in smoke.

As I watched my sled burn, the snow beneath me suddenly began to give away and I began to slide towards the chasm. I desperately began grabbing at more snow, but it just kept giving away and I continued sliding. "Oh no. No, no, no, no!" I cried as I slid faster and faster down.

A pick axe and rope suddenly hurtled towards me and landed just inches from my face. "Grab on!" Anna called.

Without really thinking, I grabbed the pick axe. "Pull, Sven! Pull!" Anna told Sven.

Sven and Anna both pulled on the rope attached to the pick axe and pulled me safely away from the chasm's edge.

Once I was a fair distance away, I let go of the pick and just laid on the ground, the full impact of losing my sled suddenly hitting me. Not only was it a mode of transportation, but it was key to my ice business. And I had worked for so long to completely pay for it. Not to mention literally everything I owned had been packed into the back of it. Now it was all a burning pile of ashes at the bottom of a chasm. I covered my face, groaning.

Anna approached me. "I'll replace your sled... and everything in it," she said.

Somehow, that did not make me feel much better. I was in too much mourning at the moment to fully appreciate what she had just said. I just groaned again.

"And... I understand if you don't want to help me anymore," Anna said. She began to walk away, sighing.

I let her go. Yes, she did have a lot of spunk and boldness, I had to admit, but that did not make her worth risking any more of what just happened. So I continued to just lay on the ground.

However, Sven approached me and nudged me with his muzzle as if asking me if I were going to help her. I looked at him. "Of course I don't want to help her anymore," I said, "In fact, this whole thing has ruined me for helping anyone ever again."

Sven gave me a look. I knew what he was thinking. "She'll die on her own!" I said for him.

"I can live with that," I told him. Actually, I was not entirely sure if I could, but at the moment I was just trying to talk myself out of going after her.

"But you won't get your new sled if she's dead," I replied for Sven.

I frowned at him. "Sometimes I really don't like you," I told him.

Think what you want about my conversations with Sven. Talking for him is a good way for me to think out loud and to sort out my thoughts. At least that's how it started. It sort of progressed from that into me just translating what Sven is thinking at any given time. I'm pretty good at that actually. Whether it be when he wants a carrot or to be scratched or something, I'll know. I'm an expert on all things Sven. But I also have deep conversations with him too, not to mention arguments. He kind of acts as a physical form of that little annoying voice in my head that makes me do things I don't want to do, but probably should. He always wins out whenever I argue with him. Why is that?

Anyways, back to the story. I hollered back to Anna, "Hold up! We're coming!"

"You are!?" she asked happily, but then quickly changed her tone to nonchalance, "I mean, sure. Yeah, I'll let you tag along."

I had to chuckle at that. She sure had a lot of confidence as well as spirit. I picked up my bag of supplies and headed after her.


	5. Strange Encounters

We walked and walked, trudging through snow drifts, marching up snow-covered slopes, until the sun began to rise. We were soon walking over a narrow mountain ridge that overlooked Arendelle. Anna stopped to look at it, shocked.

"Arendelle," she said, stunned.

I came up behind her and looked as well. The entire kingdom was entirely covered in ice and snow. "It's completely frozen," I remarked aloud, equally shocked.

We both just stared at it for a moment in silence, but then Anna spoke up. "But it'll be fine. Elsa will thaw it," she said optimistically.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. How could she be so sure? "Will she?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yeah," she replied still in the same upbeat tone, although I could sense some slight doubt behind it. However, she turned away from the frozen kingdom and pointed a finger in one direction. "So, this way to the North Mountain?"

Ha! She was cute. If only it were that easy. I chuckled, then took her hand and turned it upwards several degrees. "More like this way," I informed her.

Her eyes widened as she got her first look at the North Mountain in the distance. The highest, most precarious mountain out there. Yep, that was our destination.

We moved on and soon came across a mountain clearing. However, this clearing was different from any other I had been in before. The fresh powder blanketed everything like a frosted cake. All the trees were willows, and ice clung to the branches and hung down making each one appear as a giant chandelier. The rising sun shone through the ice like stained glass windows and sparkled all around us. It was a stunning sight. Have I mentioned that I really love ice?

I reached out to touch some of the hanging branches as we passed and the ice jingled together like wind chimes as I did so. Sven got a kick out of this and immediately began knocking them about with his antlers happily, then began skipping around with pure joy.

Anna looked around in awe. "I never knew winter could be so beautiful," she remarked softly.

I was about to agree with her when I suddenly became aware of someone or some_thing_ else doing it for me. It was very distant, but it was definitely a voice. I looked at Anna. She could hear it too. So I wasn't crazy.

"Yeah, it really is beautiful, isn't it?" the voice was saying, "But it's so white. You know, how about a little color? Must we bleach the joy out of it all? I'm thinking maybe some crimson, chartreuse..."

Where was that voice coming from? Anna and I both looked around. As far as I could see, no one else was in the clearing except for me, Anna, and Sven. And neither Anna or I were talking. That only left... But, no. Sven couldn't possibly... I turned to look anyways. Sven was standing behind us, his antlers completely tangled up in the branches of the trees, looking totally content, but his mouth was not moving.

"...How about yellow?" the voice continued. It suddenly seemed closer to us. "No, not yellow. Yellow and snow? Brrrr! No go."

Anna and I simultaneously noticed a little snowman standing right behind us. What the? Had that always been there? We both started at the sight of it. As if a randomly appearing snowman was not weird enough, it suddenly _turned its head_ and looked at Anna. "Am I right?" it asked. It was the same voice we had been hearing!

Anna screamed and kicked its head. The head flew right off its body and landed in my arms. It smiled up at me. It was easily the weirdest thing I had ever seen. "Hi!" it said cheerfully.

A dismembered head made of snow talking to me. Yep. Definitely high up on the freaky scale. "You're creepy," I told it. Then I tossed it back to Anna.

"I don't want it!" she cried, tossing it back.

Well I didn't want it either. I threw it back to her, "Backatchya!"

"Please don't drop me!" the head pleaded.

"No!" Anna cried, throwing it back to me.

"Come on, it's just a head," I told her as I tossed it back to her. Although that's why it weirded me out too.

The snowman's body began walking towards Anna, flailing its arms like a blind man. "We got off to a bad start," its head said from Anna's arms.

"Ew! Ew! The body!" Anna cried, completely freaked out. Without really thinking, she threw the head at the approaching body and it fell backwards.

It swung its stumpy little legs a few times, but then managed to get itself upright. Its head sat perched on its body upside down. It smiled happily, but then suddenly looked confused as it stared at us.

"Wait, what am I looking at right now?" it asked, "Why are you hanging off the earth like a bat?"

I just stared at the strange phenomenon, trying to process it, but Anna moved forward. "Okay," she said, sounding much calmer than she had a few seconds ago, "Wait one second."

She picked up its head, flipped it around, then rested it back on its body. "Oh! Thank you!" he said.

"You're welcome," Anna replied.

"Now I'm perfect!" he exclaimed.

Anna smiled. "Well, almost."

She grabbed my bag of supplies. The snowman looked at me. "It was like my whole life got turned upside down," he told me as Anna rummaged through my bag.

I watched as Anna pulled out a carrot. The snowman turned back to her just as she tried to jam it into his face where his nose belonged. However, because of this action, the carrot went right through his head so that only the very tip was sticking out the front.

"Ooh! Too hard!" Anna cried.

"Woo! Head rush!" the snowman said.

I just watched, bewildered. Did snowmen _feel_ things?

"Are you okay?" Anna asked.

"Are you kidding?" he asked, seeing the tiny bit of carrot sticking out of his face, "I am _wonderful_! I've always wanted a nose! It's so cute! Like a little baby unicorn."

The rest of the carrot was sticking out of the back of his head. Anna reached up and pushed it forward. The snowman's nose became normal size. He brightened up at the sight of it.

"Oh! I love it even more!" he exclaimed.

I knelt down beside them to get a better look at the little snowman. How was he alive? How did he function? He intrigued me beyond measure.

He sighed happily. "Alright, let's start this thing over. Hi, everyone. I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs," he said.

Anna's stared at him almost as if she had seen him before. "Olaf?" she repeated. She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up, "That's right! Olaf!"

Olaf just stared at her expectantly, "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Anna," Anna introduced herself.

Olaf turned towards me and Sven. "And who's the funky-looking donkey over there?" he asked Anna.

"That's Sven," she replied.

"Uh-huh," Olaf nodded, "And who's the reindeer?"

Wait, what?

"...Sven," Anna answered, also confused. She just shrugged at me.

Olaf looked back and forth between me and Sven. "Oh, they're... Oh. Okay. Makes things easier for me," he said brightly.

Sven suddenly tried to take a bite out of his nose, but missed. Well, it was a carrot after all. Olaf giggled happily. "Aw look at him trying to kiss my nose," he said. Then he looked at Sven, cooing, "I like you too!"

"Olaf, did Elsa build you?" Anna asked.

Olaf turned back to Anna. "Yeah, why?"

I became very interested in Olaf's arm. It was a stick, but it still moved like the rest of him. Seriously, how did this guy work? I took it off his body and began to study it closely, as if I could find the answer. He did not even seem to notice.

"Do you know where she is?" Anna asked him.

"Yeah, why?" Olaf said.

I continued to study the arm. It even had a joint for his elbow so he could bend it. "Fascinating," I mumbled.

"Do you think you could show us the way?" Anna asked him.

"Yeah, why?" Olaf said.

Finally, baffled by the arm, I decided to ask, "How does this work?"

The arm suddenly slapped me across the face. Hard. "Ow," I yelped, more put off than hurt.

"Stop it, Sven" Olaf told me, taking the arm back and putting it in place, "Trying to focus here." He turned back to Anna, "Yeah, why?"

I answered for her. "I'll tell you why. We need Elsa to help bring back summer."

"Summer?" Olaf repeated in awe.

Anna nodded.

"Oh, I don't know why, but I've always loved the idea of summer and sun and all things hot," Olaf said dreamily.

Um, why would he like that? A snowman and summer would not really mesh well together. Surely he knew that. Unless... oh.

"Really?" I said, "I'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat."

"Nope," Olaf replied, "But sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine what it might be like when summer does come."

He proceeded to give us this whole spiel, (which I will not mess with your intelligence by including here) about all the things he would love to do if it were warm and he could experience summer. He really had no idea what would happen to snow if it got warm, which he openly admitted to. However, he really, really wanted to find out.

I just stared at him as he went on and on about his impossible dream. Anna was watching him with this smile that said she thought it was the sweetest thing. I mumbled to her, "I'm gonna tell him."

She hit me in the arm. "Don't you dare!" she warned.

Olaf grinned up at us, now that he had concluded telling us about his little fantasy. "So come on! Elsa's this way!," he said, skipping off in one direction, "Let's go bring back SUMMER!"

Anna began to follow after him, equally happy. "I'm coming!"

Sven also followed, also excited. But I just stood in place staring after them. Were we just going to ignore the fact that the snowman wanted to experience summer? Were they ALL crazy? If we did manage to bring back summer, he would turn into a puddle. His dream would be ruined.

"Somebody's got to tell him," I muttered, following after them.


	6. The North Mountain

Anna, Sven, and I followed Olaf for several miles. The little snowman had absolutely no problem with chatting up a storm about various, random things such as birds, snow, colors, summer, rocks, clothes, summer, Sven, summer, summer, his new nose, summer, summer, summer.

Finally after some time, we were walking through a terrain which was absolutely covered in enormous, wind-swept icicles. As sudden and strange as this winter was, it definitely had some appealing sights to it.

Although nice to look at, we had to be careful while treading through. One wrong step and we could easily be run through by one of the giant spikes of ice.

As we walked, I turned to Anna. She had mentioned how the winter got started, but she had never brought up how she had planned to fix it. "So, how exactly are you planning to stop this weather?" I wondered.

Anna held up a self-assured hand. "Oh, I am going to talk to my sister," she said confidently.

"That's your plan?" I asked, surprised, "My ice business is riding on you talking to your sister?"

"Yup," she replied simply.

But what if she doesn't want to help? What if she can't help? What if- I was so preoccupied with Anna's simple plan that I did not care to look where I was going and ended up nearly skewering my nose with an icicle.

"So you're not at all afraid of her?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as I moved away from the icicle.

"Why would I be?" Anna asked.

Clearly she had not thought this through entirely. Her sister, the queen, with _ice powers_ has run away from her. She might not be too happy to see her if she just randomly shows up on her doorstep. Someone with ice powers plus getting upset? I wasn't so sure if that was a good mix. After all, Anna _did_ say that the winter was set off in the first place by her sister getting mad over Anna's engagement.

Olaf did not see a problem either. "Yeah," he said, "I bet she's the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever."

As he was speaking, he walked right into an icicle and his lower half walked off without him. He did not even notice at first. But after a moment, he looked down and saw the icicle protruding from his belly. "Oh look at that. I've been impaled," he said casually. Then he giggled.

I rolled my eyes, but I was slightly amused. I went and grabbed his other half then pulled his upper half off the spike and set it on his bottom. He grinned up at me. "Thanks, Sven!" he said, then continued toddling forward.

I guess we were not correcting him about the name thing either? Whatever. I continued to follow my three companions, Olaf and Anna now in front. Anna was sweetly listening to Olaf prattle on about something, probably summer if my past experiences were anything to go by.

We continued on until we eventually reached a dead end. A mountain face that went straight up like a wall. And the North Mountain was literally _just_ on the other side.

Anna looked up at it. "What now?"

I looked up at it as well. There was no way I was going to try and get Anna over that thing. She had been pretty competent so far, I was actually rather impressed, but I did not think she would be able to manage climbing such a steep face. Besides, I did not really have enough of the proper equipment. I sighed, we would have to go around and find another way.

"It's too steep," I told her, looking into my bag, "I've only got one rope and you don't know how to climb mountains."

"Says who?" she asked.

I was still rummaging through my bag when Sven nudged me. I looked up and saw Anna attempting to climb the mountain face... with her bare hands.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I... am going... to see... my sister!" Anna declared in a strained voice as she struggled to pull herself up.

I just watched her as she struggled to find places to put her hands and feet. She had picked the worst possible spot to begin climbing.

"You're going to kill yourself," I told her flatly, "I wouldn't put my foot there." Her foot slipped so she tried a different spot which was not any better. "Or there."

"You're distracting me!" she said.

I was actually feeling a bit amused by watching her. I had to admire her determination. Still, I knew for a fact that she was not going to make it ten feet at the rate she was going.

As I watched her struggle, (since it was still on my mind) I had to bring up the fact that her sister may not be too happy to see her. "How do you know Elsa even wants to see you?" I asked.

Anna clearly did not want to think about it at the moment. "I'm just blocking you out because I've got to concentrate here!" she called down to me.

I smirked at that. "You know, most people who disappear into the mountains want to be alone," I told her. I would know.

Anna still struggled to move up the mountain face. She made a grab for a tiny handhold far above her head. "Nobody wants to be alone," she said, "Except maybe you."

"I'm not _alone_," I defended myself, crossing my arms, "I have friends, remember?"

Anna made a noise as she continued to climb. Was that a scoff? Was she scoffing at me? "You mean the love experts?" she asked wryly.

"Yes, the love experts," I replied with equal snark.

Anna thrust her foot upwards to get it into a foothold above her head. However, after performing this action, she found herself stuck. She gasped for breath, exhausted. "Please tell me I'm almost there," she pleaded.

Well, she was about six feet off the ground. That meant she only had about... 194 feet to go!

"Does the air seem a bit thin to you up here?" she asked desperately.

I tried not to laugh at her or her dramatic reaction to her predicament. I began move forward, rummaging through my sack. "Hang on," I told her. See? Called it. She wasn't going to make it ten feet.

"Hey, Sven," Olaf called to me from behind a large boulder nearby, "Not sure if this is going to solve the problem, but I found a staircase that leads exactly where you want it to go."

"Ha ha! Thank goodness!" Anna cried, relieved. She called down to me, "Catch!"

She let go of the cliff and dropped down. I quickly held out my arms and caught her. She grinned at me and gave me a grateful pat on the chest. "Thanks!" she said, as I set her down, "That was like a crazy trust exercise."

I watched her follow after Olaf, impressed. I actually kind of liked her. Hold on, wait. Did I just admit to that? I guess I did. Well... she was different than most girls I had met before. Actually practically _every_ girl I had met before. She was fearless, she was hopelessly optimistic, she had charisma, she had pluck, she had ambition. I liked that. What can you do?

I followed after the rest of the group. There was indeed a staircase as Olaf had said. But that was not what caught my attention right away. At the top of the stairs was an enormous palace. A palace entirely sculpted of ice. I gazed at it in awe. Never had I seen anything so glorious.

"Whoa," Anna spoke my thoughts.

"Now that's ice," I said. I could feel my emotions stirring inside me. I told you, there were only a few things I really cared about in this world, and ice was one of them. So I only got emotional over those few things.

"I might cry," I told Anna. I was being completely serious. I could feel the tears coming.

"Go ahead. I won't judge," Anna replied, beginning to move up the stairs.

I did not cry though. I came close, but it never happened. Olaf followed after Anna, and Sven attempted to as well. However, Sven's hooves could not find traction on the steps, since the staircase was also entirely made of ice, and he ended up slipping and sliding all over. I slipped out of my reverie and ran up to him.

"Alright, take it easy, buddy," I told him, grabbing a hold of him and lowering him back down to the ground, "You stay right here."

He obediently sat in place. I turned and began to make my way up the steps. I ran my hand along the railing, admiring every little detail on it. Utterly beautiful. I gave a whistle of approval. "Flawless," I muttered in awe.

I arrived at the doors of the ice palace behind Anna, who stood facing them with her fist raised. I still looked up at the structure, admiring every inch of it. I could not wait to see what the inside looked like.

"Knock," Olaf was telling Anna, "Just knock. Why isn't she knocking?"

Then he said much quieter to me, but still very loudly, because I really do not think it is in his nature to be very quiet: "Do you think she knows how to knock?"

Anna finally pounded on the doors. The doors slowly creaked open and Anna gave a slight chuckle of success. "It opened!" she declared happily, sounding almost surprised, "That's a first."

She went to step inside and I began to follow, but she suddenly turned to me. "Oh. You should probably wait out here," she said.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"Last time I introduced her to a guy, she froze everything," Anna reasoned.

Point taken. But I did not want to pass up an opportunity to see inside this fantastic structure. This was a once in a lifetime chance! How could she make me wait outside? "But... Oh come on. It's a palace made of _ice_!" I practically pleaded, "Ice is my life!"

But I could tell she was not going to budge. Olaf waved to me and turned to go inside. "Bye, Sven!"

Anna crouched down to his level, stopping him. "You too, Olaf," she said.

Olaf looked up at her, crestfallen. "Me?" he asked, almost not comprehending.

"Just... give us a minute," Anna said walking inside.

"Okay," Olaf said.

The doors shut behind Anna. I sighed, dejected and sat on the steps. Olaf began to count, taking "give us a minute" literally, and sat beside me.

"One... two... three..." Olaf counted.

Still put out, I joined him. "Four... five... six..."

The counting did make me feel a bit better. At least I got to see the outside. That was something, right? It definitely was something to behold that I would never forget.

When we began to reach the end of the countdown, Olaf stood up and grew louder. "57... 58... 59... 60!" he shouted. With that he suddenly burst through the palace doors and disappeared.

"No, Olaf-!" I called after him. But he was already gone.

I sighed and leaned back on my knees.

I sat there sulking for a while. Eventually I realized that Anna had been inside for a rather long time. How long did it take to talk to her sister about the problem at hand? As I mentioned before, I was not entirely trustworthy of Elsa. Why should I be? I had never met her, but so far she had not given me a reason to make me trust her. She had set off an eternal winter and she lived in seclusion. Not exactly a solid trust application to me. I know, give me all your "being too judgmental" lectures, but I could not help it.

Anyways, I eventually decided I had better go inside just to be sure that Anna was alright, despite the fact that she had told me to stay outside. I stood up and walked inside.

It was even better than I had imagined. Such detail and intricacy! I came close to tears again. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling and a frozen fountain sat in the center of the room. Two staircases stood in front of me, leading to probably more amazing sights. The floor was as smooth as marble, like pure glass. Yep, here come the tears.

I shook my head, bringing my mind back to why I had entered in the first place. I did not see Anna anywhere. However, I did spot Olaf skipping around the fountain, giggling and humming to himself. I approached him.

"Olaf, where's Anna?" I asked.

Olaf stopped moving and looked at me. "She went with Elsa upstairs," he told me, pointing to one of the staircases.

I looked at the staircase. Should I go up? Should I disturb them? Anna did tell me to wait outside. But she had been inside for so long, and I did not trust Elsa as much as Anna seemed to. I made up my mind to go up the stairs.

Olaf followed after me. "Where are we going?" he asked cheerfully as if we were going on an adventure.

"To find Anna," I told him.

"Okay!" he replied, accepting it.

These stairs were just as perfectly flawless as the ones outside had been, but even larger and grander. I couldn't help, but admire them as I walked up. When I reached the top of the first staircase, I realized that there was another set. This place was enormous! It really was a palace.

As I neared the top of the second staircase, I became aware of distant voices. I could not distinguish what they were saying, but I could tell that they were women's voices. Anna and her sister! I quickened my pace.

I followed the voices down a hall. At the end of it, I could see Anna standing in the center of a large room, speaking very animatedly to someone out of my line of vision. There seemed to be a contained snow storm flurrying inside the room as they spoke... actually they seemed to be arguing by the sound of their voices. I still could not really hear what they were saying.

I cautiously moved closer to the room, trying to decipher what was happening. Suddenly all the snow in the room was swept away in one direction, disappearing momentarily. But then it all suddenly burst back out violently in all directions and I heard a loud, "I CAN'T!"

I saw the blizzard hit Anna. She clutched her chest where she had been hit and began to stumble backwards, keeling over. I suddenly felt a strong sense of panic as I watched her fall to her knees, still clutching her chest. Without thinking, I rushed forward to her side, shouting her name. "Anna!" I put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Anna said, getting to her feet, toughing out her pain, "I'm fine."

"Who's this?"

It was then that I finally looked at the other person in the room. Elsa, Anna's sister, the queen of Arendelle. She was very elegant and refined, just like her palace, dressed in a long blue dress and sheer cape both which seemed to be made of ice crystals. Her light blonde, almost white, hair even had snowflakes braided into it.

She didn't look angry or pleased like I thought she would. She looked actually... scared? Had she not struck Anna on purpose? She was looking at me, confused and worried, but she shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she said, "You have to go."

"No," Anna said with determination, "I know we can figure this out together."

Elsa looked at her desperately. "How? What power do you have to stop this winter?" she asked in despair, "To stop _me?_"

I began to notice icy spikes and dark shadows beginning to form on the walls around us. The floor began to creak beneath our feet. I instinctively put a protective arm around Anna. "Anna, I think we should go," I said.

"No, I'm not leaving without you, Elsa," Anna said to her sister desperately.

Elsa looked almost close to tears. "Yes, you are," she said firmly.

She waved her hands in front of her and swirls of ice emanated from her palms onto the floor. The ice on the floor began to swirl and rise, growing larger and larger as it stretched towards the ceiling. Soon, a huge snowman appeared before us. Actually snowman is not really the proper word for it. Snow_beast_ is more like it. Anna and I stared up at it in shock as it glared down at us.


	7. Snowman Chase

_To the guest who gave me the constructive criticism review: I would have sent you this in a PM, but you were a guest so... I HAVE noticed that the plot has been moving a bit fast. In fact, every time I finish a chapter I always go back and I try to add more of his inner thoughts, him noticing details, and such where I can, but I'll admit it's not my greatest strength when it comes to adding/describing details. And as much as I try, I am not a skilled enough writer to make it... longer and deeper like I envision it. But I am trying. Also, ironically, I do have a couple flashbacks coming up in later chapters. I already had them planned out before you even reviewed. So never fear! (And I DO in fact appreciate constructive criticism BTW as long as it's polite, so thank you.)_

_And to everyone else who has been reviewing and following: thank you so much! Much love!_

_Also, Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all are enjoying your holidays! :)_

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That snowman was not gentle when he picked up Anna and me in one hand and Olaf in the other. Let me tell you, I do not like being manhandled. Oaken had already done it within the last 24 hours. I did not appreciate it happening then, and I did not appreciate it happening now. Anna did not appreciate it either since she protested very loudly the entire way as it carried us all the way down to the main doors.

Once outside, it glared at us. "Go away," it growled in a deep, booming voice.

Then it proceeded to toss us out. We landed on the staircase and had a very bumpy slide on our rears all the way down to the bottom where we crashed into a snowdrift. I attempted to stand up, but then heard Olaf's voice: "Head's up!"

His head came flying in our direction and lodged into the snowdrift Anna and I had crashed into, just above our heads. He was still looking up at the ice palace. "Watch out for my butt!" he cried.

I looked just in time to see the rest of him hurtling towards me. I fell back onto the snow, just avoiding being hit by the flying pieces of his body. Anna looked at Olaf's pieces lodged in the snow drift, then up at the giant snowman who had thrown him there, highly affronted.

She scooped up some snow, forming it into a snowball, and began to march back towards the ice palace, fuming. "It is not nice to throw people!" she shouted furiously.

Whatever she was planning to do could not have a positive outcome. Anna against a giant, menacing snowbeast like that? Not good. It would be better to just move on. I was a bit peeved as well, but you didn't see me trying to provoke it to a fight or something. But nope. That's not how Anna rolled, I was learning. She just always had to do something, no matter what. I kind of liked that about her. But I had to stop her this time.

I grabbed onto her, trying to pull her back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, feisty-pants," I said, "Okay, relax." She struggled against my hold. She was extremely determined to give that snowman a piece of her mind. She began growling at me as well as the snowman. I tightened my grip and held her back, blocking her throwing arm. "Just calm down. Calm down," I told her.

She began to relax slightly as I held her, and I loosened my grip. "Just let the snowman be," I told her.

She took a deep breath and began to turn away. "Alright. I'm calm."

I let go of her and began to turn back to the snowdrift. "Great," I said, satisfied.

However, I should not have given up so easily, because as soon as I turned away, Anna suddenly chucked the snowball at the snowman as hard as she could.

"Oh come on!" I groaned.

I watched as the snowball sailed up the steps and hit the snowman in the shoulder. It did not make even the slightest mark. In fact, if the snowman had not been staring at us when it happened, I bet it probably would not have even noticed. However, it did notice and it was not pleased. In fact, it was _furious_. It roared down at us, ice spikes appearing on its joints.

"Oh great. See? Now you've made him mad!" I told Anna.

Now we had to get out of there and fast. I quickly helped Anna to her feet and began to run, pushing Anna along with me. "I'll distract him, you guys go," Olaf said from the snowdrift.

Anna and I ran until we came to a steep slope. We had no choice, with the giant snowbeast right behind us, we jumped and began sliding down. I straightened my legs and crossed my arms across my chest for maximum speed. I could hear Anna tumbling around behind me, grunting with each bump. Well, at least she was moving.

I reached the bottom first and quickly stood up, but was immediately knocked over by a sliding Anna. The snowman merely leapt over the slope and landed at the bottom, right behind us. He roared loudly.

I scrambled to my feet, pulled Anna to hers and quickly began running again. We ran at top speed down the mountain and through the trees, the snowman right behind us. He was gaining on us. After all, he did have a _much_ larger stride than us. How did I get myself into these situations?

Anna suddenly stopped at a tree that was bent all the way over to the ground because of the snow piled on top of it. Why was she stopping? Didn't she notice the rather enormous, extremely terrifying snowman on our tails that could easily crush us with one of his feet?

"What are you doing!?" I cried.

She was lying flat on her back at the tip of the tree, pulling. As the snowman approached, she let go of the tree. It bounced forward like a catapult and hit the snowman smack in the face. It roared and fell backwards.

Wow, what a setback for him. How did she know to do that? I was impressed for umpteenth time that day. I grinned at Anna as she caught up to me. "Oh ho ho!" I laughed.

"I got him!" she laughed proudly, clapping her hands giddily.

I grabbed Anna by the shoulders pulling her to an abrupt stop. Because we suddenly came to the edge of a very high cliff with a sudden drop. "Whoa! Stop!" I said.

Anna looked over the edge. "It's a hundred foot drop."

"It's two hundred," I corrected her, pulling my rope out of my bag.

I quickly tied it around my waist then around hers. I tightened the knot and she cried out, "Ow!"

I heard the snowman roar in the distance. He was coming. We didn't have a lot of time. I quickly pulled the pick axe out of my bag and began to carve a rough "U" into the snow.

"What's that for?" Anna asked.

"I'm digging a snow anchor," I told her.

"Okay," Anna said, "What if we fall?"

I stuck the remaining rope into the "U". It had been a while since I had used a snow anchor. Hopefully it would hold.

"There's twenty feet of fresh powder down there," I told her, "It'll be like landing on a pillow... hopefully."

It had also been a while since I fell off a two hundred foot cliff onto powder. Actually, I had never done that. The highest I had fallen was about fifty feet. So maybe it would still catch our fall even from so high... Maybe? I really just said that to make her feel better. We could probably die if my snow anchor didn't hold. Death by falling or death by giant angry snowman? Take your pick!

I heard another roar and looked up. I could see the trees in the distance moving, indicating that the snowman was getting closer.

I threw the other end of the rope over the edge of the cliff and pulled it tight into the snow anchor. It felt secure enough. "Okay, Anna. On three," I said, "One..."

Anna began to bounce in place, pumping herself up, "Okay. you tell me when. I'm ready to go."

"Two..." I continued.

"I was BORN ready!" she declared, barely able to contain herself.

"Calm down," I told her. I had never seen anyone so anxious to jump off a cliff.

A tree suddenly came flying from over the other trees and landed just in front of us, showering me with snow.

"TREE!" I heard Anna shout from behind me.

I turned to look just in time to see Anna leap over the edge. "What the-?" I managed to say before being yanked along with her.

We fell several feet before the rope pulled tight in the snow anchor. I grunted as it caught us. I really had no words and only managed: "That happened."

Not very intelligent, I know, but I had just been yanked off a cliff and did not really have time to pull my thoughts together. At least my snow anchor was holding, that was something to be grateful for. I began to lower us down.

After a moment, I heard a squeal from above. I looked up and saw Olaf go flying past us. "Olaf!" Anna cried.

I watched him hit a protruding rock just below us, completely dismember, and then continue falling. "Hang in there, guys!" he shouted at us as all his parts disappeared.

If Olaf was flying off cliffs, that must mean that the snowbeast was now at the top. I mean, Olaf did some pretty weird things, but I didn't think he would jump off a cliff of his own free will. Anna came to this conclusion as well. She began to urge me to go faster. We were only halfway down. I did try, but one could only go so fast when you had one rope and two people to worry about without plummeting to the ground and possibly our deaths.

However, my progress was suddenly cut short as we began to move upwards rather than down. "Wait, what?" Anna asked.

We both looked up and saw two large hands made of snow, hanging onto the rope, reeling us up. Now what do we do? I tried to come up with something. I looked down at Anna and saw her trying to undo the knot around her waist. I tried to reach down to help, but as the rope waved around, so did we, and my head suddenly came into contact with the cliff face. Hard.

Everything became very fuzzy and disoriented. I am sorry to say that I cannot tell you what happened in the story for a bit since I did actually black out.

I can't have been out for more than a minute, because as my eyes fluttered open, I distinctly heard the sound of a knife being pulled from its shaft. At least, I think that's what it was. Then I was falling. That was the first thing I was truly aware of. Falling down, down, down. And yes, I screamed. I could hear Anna screaming as well.

Then everything stopped.

I opened my eyes. I was completely engulfed by snow. White everywhere and cold, cold, COLD! I came to the realization that I was lying flat on my back. It was all coming back to me now. We had fallen off a two hundred foot cliff after being chased by a giant snow monster. Hey, I had just been hit in the head, give me a break for being a little slow.

I was alive though. I had fallen off a two hundred foot cliff and lived! I had been right after all. Landing on the powder, even from such extraordinary heights, would work.

I suddenly heard Olaf's muffled voice screaming above me: "I can't feel my legs! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!"

I could feel someone holding onto my boots and shaking them desperately. I sat up, spitting snow out of my mouth. Olaf's upper half was sitting on top of me, clinging to my boots which were already sticking up out of the snow. "Those are my legs," I told him.

Olaf's lower half suddenly came waddling by. He perked up at the sight of it. "Ooh, hey! Do me a favor, grab my butt!" he said to me.

I grabbed it, then picked up his other half and set them both together. He sighed in content. "Ah, that feels better," he said.

Sven appeared behind me, and Olaf grinned. "Hi, Sven!" he turned away just as Sven tried to take a bite out of his nose, missing it. "He found us!"

Olaf hugged him, cooing in the most ridiculous voice I had ever heard, "Who's my cute little reindeer?"

Disgusted, I pushed Olaf back, "Don't talk to him like that."

Olaf just laughed and toddled away.

I then noticed Anna nearby, her entire lower half completely buried in the powder, struggling to free herself. She grunted and twisted, attempting to pull herself out, but to no avail. I stood up and walked over to her. "Here," I said, grabbing her under the arms.

With ease, I pulled her straight up out of the powder and set her on her feet. "Whoa!" she exclaimed.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at me.

I smiled back, meeting her gaze. Actually, I think now was probably the first time I had ever really looked at her properly. She actually had strikingly beautiful blue eyes. And I found myself just sort of getting lost... in... them...

"How's your head?" she asked, reaching up and touching the spot that I had banged on the cliff.

Sharp pain spread from her touch and I winced. "Ah! Ooh!" I cried, but immediately caught myself and tried to play it off with a small laugh, "Uh, it's fine. I'm good. I've got a thick skull."

I smiled at her again and she returned it. We ended up staring once again. We probably would have done so for a long time if Olaf had not had his input of: "I don't have a skull... or bones."

After our second little stare-off, I began to realize that maybe my fondness for her was growing beyond just admiration, and that maybe it was showing too. But, no. No! Pfft! That was ridiculous. Right? I don't know! It was all so confusing. Anna was a fantastic girl and I really liked her. More than I had ever liked anyone before. But how do you even decide _how much_ you like someone?

At the moment, I decided to turn my focus on to our next step in our crazy adventure. Anna always was the one with the plan, so I turned to her. "So..." now I just felt kind of awkward talking to her after my little feelings fiasco, "So now what?"

"Now what?" she repeated coyly, almost not hearing me, but then my words fully processed in her head and panic suddenly took over, "Now what!? Ohhhh! What are we going to do? She threw me out! I can't go back to Arendelle with the weather like this! And then there's your ice business-"

I couldn't help smiling at her concern. I held up my hands trying to calm her. "Hey, don't worry about my ice business," I told her. And you know something? I was actually being genuine.

Something caught my eye in her hair. Her white streak was... was it getting thicker? It was. It was spreading over more of her hair. I stared at it. "Worry about your hair," I told her.

She frowned at me. "What? I just fell off a cliff! You should see your hair."

"No. Your's is turning white," I said.

"White? It's..." She picked up her right braid to look and watched as an entire tendril turned white. Almost the entire right side of her head was now the same color as the snow around us.

I remembered what I saw back in the ice palace. "It's because she struck you, isn't it?"

Anna looked from her hair to me. "Does it look bad?" she asked with some worry.

I contemplated it for a moment. The white _was_ a strange sight, but she could never look bad. "No," I said.

Olaf raised his head up in between us. "You hesitated," he said.

"No! I-I-I didn't!" I stammered.

I looked back at Anna. The white in her hair, suddenly sparked a memory. The night I first met my family, I had watched Grandpappie heal a girl with a white streak in her hair, exactly like Anna's. I tried to think, it was so long ago, who were those people? There had been four of them; a mother, father, and two girls. Hang on!

I suddenly remembered... They had called them "your majesties". That little girl who had been healed that night had been Anna! Wow. I could not believe it took me so long to realize it. I knew that white streak had seemed familiar. That settled it then. If Grandpappie had healed her then, then surely he could help her now!

"Anna," I said, "You need help. Come on."

I began to walk. Olaf happily began to follow, "Okay! Where are we going?" he asked.

"To see my friends," I replied, picking up my hat which was lying nearby.

"The love experts?" Anna asked, also beginning to follow.

"Love experts!?" Olaf repeated excitedly.

"Yes," I said, "And don't worry. They'll be able to fix this."

"How do you know?" Anna wondered.

I looked back at her. "Because I've seen them do it before."

"I like to consider myself a love expert," Olaf said to Sven.

I led the way, marching through the deep powder. Now the next step in our crazy journey: the Black Mountains.


	8. The Love Experts

_Ugh, sorry about that! There were some problems in getting this chapter up. I don't know what on earth was going on, but it really was not cooperating. I know lots of you have been looking forward to this chapter. Well, it's finally here and I hope it doesn't disappoint!_

_I know I said I was going to include some flashbacks in later chapters. Well, I had two in mind and I was going to include one here. You know how something seems good in your head, but then you say it or write it down and it's complete crap? Yeah... that's kind of what happened. I wrote it and rewrote it and it just was not working. So, sorry if you were looking forward to that at all. It's my fault as a writer who just cannot connect to the creative part of my brain. I tried to make up for it by REFERENCING his past as much as possible in this chapter._

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The sun had long since set by the time we reached the Black Mountains. Olaf rode on Sven's back in front of Anna and me, staring up at the open sky. He pointed upwards at the Northern Lights, "Look, Sven. The sky's awake!"

Beside me, Anna shivered. It was significantly warmer here than it had been up at the North Mountain and yet she still had her arms wrapped around herself. I looked at her. "Are you cold?" I wondered.

"A little," she said, trying to sound as casual as possible. But I could tell she was freezing.

What was I supposed to do? I wanted to help her. In my family, when I was cold, they would just pile on top of me to keep me warm (seriously), but that was troll culture. It was now dawning on me that I really had no idea how to act around people. I knew how to talk to them, sure, but the other things? Should I just put my arm around her? Was that acceptable? I honestly had no idea what to do in these situations. I reached out to put my arm around her. But that might make her uncomfortable. She might not want me touching her. I pulled my arm back.

She was still cold though. I looked around, thinking. I saw steam rising from the cracks in the earth nearby and got an idea. When I would travel to and from the Valley of the Living Rock when I was younger, I would sometimes get cold too and my family wasn't around to help me out, that was when I had discovered the steam cracks. It was like my own personal sauna (with clothes of course!)

"Uh, wait. Come here," I said, running over to one and holding my hands over it, gesturing for her to do the same.

She followed my example. She smiled with pleasure, "Oooh."

We continued to follow after Sven and Olaf, Anna holding her hands over the cracks as we passed them. I began to think about what we were about to walk into. I had never introduced anyone to the trolls before. I wasn't sure how they were going to take it. They were quite a umm... lively bunch. As fun and loving and great as they were, they could be a little... overwhelming. I thought I should probably give Anna a heads up.

"So... about my friends," I began, "Well, I say friends, they're more like family. Anyway, when I was a kid, it was just me and Sven until they kind of took us in."

"They did?" Anna asked, sounding touched.

"Yeah," I said.

Then I began getting a little concerned thinking about all the things they might do or say. They could try... giving her a troll makeover with leaves and moss and mud and... yeesh. Or they might make up a song about her hair and how it reminds them of fire and snow at the same time in the best way possible (or maybe that's just me. But I'm not making up a song about it!). Or they could try feeding her one of their weird concoctions made of who knows what that they had forced me to eat in the past. (Like that red "soup" with chunks of... I still don't know what those little purple things were.) And Anna, being the sweet, kind person that she is would probably eat whatever it is! Oh no.

"I don't want to scare you, they can be a little inappropriate...and loud. Very loud," I said. Then I began to ramble, thinking about everything I had experienced in the past, "They're also stubborn at times, and a little overbearing. And heavy. Really, really heavy... But they're fine. You'll get it. They mean well."

Anna rested a reassuring hand on my arm. "Kristoff," she said, smiling, "They sound wonderful."

She sounded genuine. I smiled back. "Okay."

I stepped forward into the middle of the Valley of the Living Rock. Everyone was there as far as I could see. I spread my arms out gesturing to them, "Meet my family!"

I turned to them and began to greet them. It had been a long while since I had visited. Almost a year. But I still remembered everyone's favorite spot and recognized each one. They remained folded, but I still proceeded to greet them. I knew they could hear me, it just usually took a little bit of coaxing to get them to come out. They didn't come out for just anyone. I could hear Olaf greeting one of them behind me. I think it was Cliff? Or maybe Tuloh. I wasn't paying a lot of attention.

"Okay... Well, I'm gonna go," Anna said, sounding slightly uncomfortable, turning away.

Yeah, I suppose it did look a little crazy for me to be talking to rocks, but give it a minute. I called out to her, "No, Anna! Wait!"

The rocks began to move and roll towards me. Anna jumped out of the way of some of them and Olaf happily chased after one of them. Finally they unrolled in front of me and I grinned down at them. They all blinked up at me. Bulda was right at the front and she cried out, "Kristoff's home!".

Everyone cheered. Olaf even joined in. "Kristoff's home!" he shouted amongst the excitement, then suddenly looked confused, "Wait... "Kristoff"?"

Norma grabbed my arm and yanked me down to her level. "Ah, let me look at you!"

Tuloh came up behind me and began pulling on my trousers. "Take off your clothes! I will wash!"

I pulled my trousers away from her. "Ah! No. I'm going to keep my clothes on," I told her. I turned back to the rest of them, "Look, it's great to see you all. But where's Grandpappie?"

"He's napping," a younger one, Fezl, said. Then he displayed a small mushroom protruding from his back, "But look! I grew a mushroom!"

Another younger one, Jun, stepped forward holding a red crystal, "I earned my fire crystal!"

An older one, Harpo, held up a small stone, "I passed a kidney stone."

A small one, Thim, jumped into my arms and I sagged under the weight slightly. "Kristoff, pick me up!"

"Oh! You're getting big. Good for you," I said as another small one jumped on my back. Ah, just like old times. At least now I could actually support the weight.

Anna took this opportunity to finally speak up from the outskirts. "Trolls," she said, "They're trolls!"

The trolls all suddenly noticed her and there was complete silence as they simultaneously turned to look at her. They blinked.

"HE'S BROUGHT A GIRL!" Bulda cried out ecstatically.

Everyone cheered. They picked up Anna and rolled her towards me so she landed in my arms.

"What's going on?" she asked.

I really could not be sure. As far as I knew, they could be getting ready to make us compete in a game of hopscotch or something as some sort of greetings ritual. Even growing up with them, I still did not know what to expect.

"I've learned to just roll with it," I told Anna, setting her down.

Bulda stood on top of Cliff so she could get a good look at Anna. She began to inspect her closely. "Let's see. Bright eyes, working nose, strong teeth!" she exclaimed, "Yes, yes! She'll do nicely for our Kristoff!"

Oh no. I covered my face. They _would_ think that! Anna was equally embarrassed. "Wait, I uh... no," she said.

"You've got the wrong idea," I said, "That's not why I brought her here."

"Right. We're not- I'm not..." Anna laughed uncomfortably.

"What's the issue, dear? Why are you holding back from such a man?" Bulda asked her, "Is it the clumpy way he walks?"

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"Or the grumpy way he talks?" Cliff asked from below Bulda.

Oh come on, I'm not _that _bad.

Norma grabbed one of my feet and held it up for display, asking, "Or the pear-shaped, square-shaped weirdness of his feet?"

I pulled my foot away from her. "Hey!"

However, before I could protest further, Tuloh's husband, Rayvor jumped on top of his wife's head so that he was up to my shoulder. He said to Anna, "And although he washes well, he always ends up sort of smelly."

For effect, he took a large whiff of me, then fell dramatically backwards. Excuse me! I know that I may not smell the greatest, but it's not _that_ bad... But I snuck a sniff of myself just to be sure. Yeah! Not that bad.

"But you'll never meet such a sensitive and sweet fellow!" two other ones named Pix and Kil said, posing beside me like they were selling me at the market. I grinned uncomfortably.

"That's nice, but-" Anna began, but she was cut off by Lainy and her husband approaching.

"Or what about his thing with the reindeer?" Lainy asked, gesturing to Sven.

"It's a little outside of nature's laws," her husband replied.

"This is not about me!" I tried to tell them, but still they continued, completely ignoring me.

"He's just a bit of a fixer-upper, but you can fix a fixer-upper up with a little bit of love," they said, pushing me towards Anna.

I covered my face, slightly exasperated. "Can we please just stop talking about this? We've got a real actual problem here."

"I'll say!" Bulda declared. She turned to Anna again, "So tell me dear, is it the way that he runs scared?"

"Or that he is socially impaired?" an older one, Hervy asked.

A little one, Wervyn, jumped into my arms. "Or that he only likes to tinkle in the woods?"

I quickly put Wervyn down, shaking my head at Anna, embarrassed.

"I did not need to know that," Anna said.

And that was just the beginning. Everyone continued bringing up any flaw or weird thing about me that they could think of like my "unmanly blondness", or how I have bugs (which I do not, by the way), or how I cover up that I'm "the honest goods", or how I secretly crave human hugs, and so on.

Then they decided that the only way to fix it was to fix me up with Anna. The female trolls pulled Anna aside and the males pulled me aside. Now enough was enough. I had to do something to get it into their heads that Anna and I would never be together.

"Enough!" I shouted, "She's engaged to someone else, OK?"

Surely that would end all talk, right?

Well... They stared at me for a moment, blinking. Then they huddled together. I don't know what was said, and I'm not sure I want to know. After a moment, they turned back to me, with renewed energy. "Just get the fiancee out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed!" they told me brightly.

I buried my face in my hands and groaned. They just were not getting it.

Meanwhile, they basically attacked me with... I'm not even sure. It seemed to be some sort of outfit. I turned to see how Anna was coping and I felt my eyes nearly pop out of my head at the sight of her. She actually looked stunningly beautiful adorned in a mossy cape, crystal necklace, and a large headdress. Only _she_ could manage to look so breathtaking in such an outrageous outfit. I felt a small smile creep onto my face as I stared at her.

She looked over at me and began to laugh. It was then that I noticed that I was also dressed up in a massive grass and moss cape and a tall wooden headdress. I did not look so beautifully stunning. In fact, I looked rather ridiculous. I just shrugged at her.

The trolls were still going on about fixing fixer-uppers (like me) with true love. They began to dig a large pit and then set up a wooden arch, decorated with flowers, over it. Then, they proceeded to toss both me and Anna into it.

A troll approached us, holding a book. "Do you, Anna, take Kristoff to be your troll-fully wedded-"

"Wait, what?" Anna interrupted.

"You're getting married," he answered.

So that's what the crazy outfits were all about. This is what I had meant when I told Anna that they could be a little inappropriate and stubborn, but they still mean well.

Anna suddenly began to collapse, but before she could fall over, I caught her in my arms. She was literally ice cold. What was happening? "She's as cold as ice," I said.

The trolls suddenly separated to make way for a single rock rolling towards us. It unrolled in front of us. It was Grandpappie. "There is strange magic here."

"Grandpappie," I said, gratefully.

"Come, bring her here to me," he said.

I carefully helped Anna move towards him. She was barely conscious. Grandpappie took her hands. "Anna," he said, "Your life is in danger. There is ice in your heart put there by your sister. If not removed, to solid ice will you freeze forever."

"What?" Anna said, "No."

"But you can remove it?" I asked hopefully.

"I cannot," Grandpappie replied, "I'm sorry, Kristoff. If it was her head, that would be easy, but only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart."

"An act of true love?" Anna repeated softly.

"A true love's kiss, perhaps?" Bulda suggested.

Several of the trolls gave each other kisses for effect.

An act of true love? True love's kiss? Well I was not her true love. As much as I had grown to care for her, she was in love with someone else. But if I took her back to Arendelle to her true love, she would be gone forever.

She suddenly collapsed in my arms again and more of her hair turned white. She shivered. I held her to me. I had to do something.

I wanted to help her. I wanted her safe. That was all that mattered. She needed a true love's kiss which meant... her prince. She needed a kiss from Hans. Whatever it took to save her, I was going to do it. Even if that meant I would never see her again.

"Anna, we need to get you back to Hans," I said.

"Hans," she said weakly, nodding slightly.

I looked up at Sven who was standing nearby. "Help us out, Sven."

Sven lowered his antlers down and I grabbed hold. He hoisted us out of the pit. I picked up Anna and climbed onto Sven's back. "Olaf, come on!" I called to the little snowman, who was still mingling with the trolls.

"I'm coming!" Olaf exclaimed.

He grabbed Sven's tail and jumped onto his back with us just as Sven took off. "Let's go kiss Hans!" Olaf shouted, then he paused, "Who is this Hans?"

That was just the question, wasn't it? Someone we needed to get to very fast. And someone who hopefully could save Anna... because I don't know what I'd do if she were to die.


	9. Back to Arendelle

_I know, a bit of a short chapter, but I hope it's not a huge disappointment otherwise._

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I held Anna close with one arm, trying to keep her as warm as possible, and held onto Sven with the other as he raced back towards Arendelle. Olaf slid on his belly beside us. Anna seemed to be getting weaker and colder as time went on. I grew more worried with each second. There had to be _something_ I could do.

I tried to keep my mind preoccupied with something else other than her present condition. Because I might actually go crazy with worry. Something. Anything! Something pleasant. Umm... ice? But ice was what was causing the problem in the first place. Ice was what was freezing Anna's heart and why she was trembling in my arms at that very moment. Somehow ice was not very diverting at the time.

So what else was there? Sven and my sled. But my sled had crashed and burned back at the beginning of this crazy journey. Back when I had first met Anna.

Anna... When I first saw her standing there in Oaken's, dressed in that froofy gown, completely inappropriate for the mountain conditions, I just knew she was different. And when she took out that wolf with my lute, or when she tried climbing the mountain with her bare hands. I almost smiled at the memory. She was such a determined and feisty one for someone so small.

She really was quite small, especially compared to me. She barely came up to my shoulder and I had absolutely no trouble carrying her. Like lifting a feather. I glanced at her cradled in my arms. I could clearly see the freckles splattered across her nose and cheeks. It kind of gave a child-like sweetness to her complexion. Her eyes were closed, but I remembered how big and beautifully blue they were. Like a light blue... like the sky during a spring afternoon. They always had a brightness shining out of them, radiating her bubbly personality. She was always so happy and positive. I just did not understand how she managed to see something good in everything and could always hope for the best even when the odds were against her. But that's what made her so likable. No one likes a pessimist or a grump... like me.

She was crazy, and loud, and beautiful, and caring, and all around wonderful... and now her life was fading away. She needed to be saved! I could not let any of that go.

I felt her shiver again and huddle closer into my chest. I removed my cap and put it on her head to help her keep at least a little warmer.

"Just hang in there," I told her.

We charged on. We were almost there. "Come on, buddy. Faster!" I encouraged Sven.

We finally reached the outskirts of Arendelle. Olaf slid past us, going in a different direction. "I'll meet you guys at the castle!" he called.

"Stay out of sight, Olaf!" I told him. Who knew how people would react to a living snowman. Anna and I had handled it pretty well, considering (after the initial shock of first seeing him had worn off). But other people? Who knows how they might take it.

"I will!" he said.

We finally approached the castle gates. Sven pulled to a halt in front of them. I hopped off, carrying Anna and walked towards the gates. She looked up at me, shivering fiercely. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

I smiled as reassuringly as I could. This was why I lo- liked her. Here she was, basically freezing from the inside out, and she was worried about how I was faring. "Don't worry about me," I told her.

Of course, if I were to answer her question, I was not entirely sure what it would be. I mean, I knew that bringing her back was the only way to save her, and I should be feeling happy that she would live. So why was there this feeling of hopelessness and gloom rising up in my gut?

The gates suddenly opened and some servants came rushing out. They immediately began fussing over Anna and I let them take her.

"Get her warm," I instructed, "And find Prince Hans immediately."

"We will, thank you," one of them said.

I watched as they began to lead her away. Suddenly, everything began to hit me. The worry, the uncertainty. "Make sure she's safe!" I called.

Anna turned to look at me just as she was led away. I got one last look at her beautiful face before the gates closed, and I watched her until they finally shut in my face. I stood there, frozen, staring at the closed gates, everything crashing down on me like an avalanche. I was never going to see her again, I didn't know what was going to happen to her. I could only hope that her kiss would work. I sighed, there was nothing left for me to do now except to go back to where I came from. I turned and began to walk away. Sven soon followed.

Yes, if you must know, I _did_ forget about our deal about her replacing my sled. What was a sled to Anna and her radiant personality? The fact that I had absolutely nothing except for the clothes on my back never even crossed my mind as I headed back towards the mountains.

I was completely numb to everything around me as I walked. My legs were moving, but I was unaware of it. I just stared blankly ahead as I moved forward. All I could think about was Anna.

Eventually, Sven and I made it all the way out of Arendelle. So far the trip had been in complete silence while I marched ahead, worried, and Sven lagged behind, moping. However, just as we were about to head into the forest and out of sight of Arendelle, Sven ran to the front and firmly planted himself in my path. He grunted at me.

"What is it, buddy?" I asked dully.

He began to push me backwards slightly with his antlers. I need not tell you that those things can be rather hazardous. "Hey watch it," I said, "What's wrong with you?"

Sven glared at me and began to snort and grunt loudly at me. I knew what he was trying to tell me. I told you, I am an expert on all things Sven. However, at the time, I did not want to confront it, so I pretended not to understand.

"I don't understand you when you talk like that," I told him flatly. I tried to move past him.

Sven had had enough. He used his antlers to lift me off the ground and began to walk back towards Arendelle.

"Ah! Stop it! Put me down!" I shouted.

Sven dropped me, hard, back on the ground and then proceeded to grunt and growl at me extremely loudly once more. This time, I answered him, upset. "No, Sven!" I told him, standing up, "We're not going back!"

Sven brayed at me angrily.

"She's with her true love!" I shouted.

Sven looked at me, giving me a "who are you kidding?" look. I sighed heavily. So now it all came it out. I was in love with Anna. There was no denying it anymore... And whether she actually _was_ with her true love at that moment or not, she thought she was and I was not going to get in the way of that. I had done my job of getting her home to be saved and now I was no longer needed. I wasn't even supposed to fall in love with her in the first place. It was my fault I was having these feelings, not hers. Why should I go back and ruin someone else's happiness just because I _had_ to go and fall for someone who was already engaged?

At that moment, the wind suddenly began to pick up. I looked around for the source. It was coming from the kingdom. "What the...?"

I saw a huge swirling cloud of violent, blizzarding snow forming over the castle and spreading over the rest of the kingdom. It began to engulf everything. My eyes widened in alarm. Anna was down there! Unconsciously, I whispered her name fearfully, "Anna..."

Without a second thought, I began to charge back down the mountain towards the kingdom as fast as I could. Sven soon caught up to me and I hopped onto his back. We both raced back towards Arendelle.


	10. Whiteout

_Now this chapter's really all about action, so don't be getting all up on my case about how there's not a lot of his thoughts and whatever. That's just how it is in the movie. I'm sorry, I did try, but it's just that this is an action scene. I really think he was more concerned about avoiding getting crushed by giant ships and stuff than having deep emotional battles (not that he's not having emotions at this particular time because MUST GET TO ANNA! It's just, well, it'll be a big contrast to the last chapter)._

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I don't think I had ever felt a sense of urgency stronger than I did at that very moment ever before. Even though Sven was going at top speed, practically sliding down the mountain, it still did not seem fast enough.

My thoughts were only focused on Anna. Getting to Anna. Who knew if I could even do anything, but I could not just turn my back on this. I had never seen anything like the strange blizzard billowing around the kingdom ever before. A normal blizzard could be deadly enough, and this was far beyond an ordinary blizzard. And Anna was trapped right in the middle of it.

When Sven and I reached the bottom of the mountain and began to race across the fjord. I saw the snow cloud raging toward us, ready to engulf us and the rest of the fjord. I tensed up, ready for impact. Icy snow hit my face like rocks as we entered the blizzard, but we still moved forward. It was easily the coldest I had ever experienced in my entire lifetime. Absolutely frigid wind fought against us fiercely as we raced onwards, and the snow that billowed around us was literally made of ice.

With this blizzard here like this, I could only conclude that the queen had to be here too. But how? Why? It seemed to me that she liked her seclusion. And why was she doing this? It could be that... After what little I had seen of her, it seemed that she had some trouble controlling her powers, so maybe this was not on purpose?

"Come on, buddy, faster!" I urged on Sven.

Everything was completely white around us. The blizzard enveloped everything. I could barely see anything more than a few feet in front of us. The wind was so strong that it began to dislodge some of the ships that were stuck in the ice of the frozen fjord.

Sven and I did our best to avoid them. However one particularly large one came out of nowhere right in front of us. We had no choice, but to keep running forward. I ducked as pieces of the ship came flying towards us. The ice cracked around us. Sven raced forward to the front of the ship, just barely missing getting crushed by the giant bowspirit as the ship toppled over onto its front.

It wasn't over yet though. The toppling of the ship had caused a massive chain reaction of cracking in the ice which was quickly catching up to us. The cracks went on ahead of us and I saw freezing water exposing all around, right in our path. There did not seem to be any escape.

Sven made a brave attempt to leap over it, but it was too big even for him. He landed on one of the precarious floating ice pieces and promptly bucked me off, sending me flying to the other side, just beyond the cracks. I turned over and looked back at the frozen water. Sven was nowhere in sight.

"SVEN!" I cried out desperately.

Nothing. There was nothing. I looked out over the water in anticipation, but still I could not see anything. Just the howling wind, the freezing snow, and the icy water. I felt a pit forming in my stomach. I had already lost two people to the icy waters before, long ago. What if he was...?

But then suddenly Sven emerged, braying, from the freezing water. He paddled his way to one of the floating ice pieces. He looked at me and grunted loudly. I got it. He was telling me to keep going without him.

I smiled slightly, relieved. "Good boy," I told him, then turned and began running on my own.

I ran and ran, but I could not see where I was going. I had no idea where I was or if I was even going in the right direction. All I could see was white. The wind whipped around me, snow battered against my face, but I still pressed on.

I had no sense of direction in this whiteness. I was just going on blindly. But then I heard a faint, but very distinct, "Kristoff," echo out of the white.

It was Anna's voice. I was sure I didn't imagine it. It was too clear. I turned towards the sound. "Anna!" I cried, and began running in that direction.

I still had no idea where I was, but at least now I had a direction to follow. I pressed on through the blizzard. I didn't question why she was out on the fjord or why she would be calling my name. If she needed my help, I was going to give it to her. She was my first priority now.

The storm continued to rage on around me. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. The wind howled in my ears and I could barely keep my eyes open against the snow beating against my face. It was difficult to even move forward. But I wasn't going to give up. I _couldn't_ give up!

Then, the most unexpected thing happened. The blizzard froze. I mean, literally froze in midair. The snowflakes were suspended in the air, unmoving. There was no more wind, everything was completely still. I stopped running and looked around, confused. What was happening?

As I was looking around, I spotted a lone figure standing across the fjord. Looking closer, my heart nearly stopped as I recognized it. "Anna," I said, and began to run once again.

With renewed energy at the sight of her, I ran as fast as I possibly could towards her. I could see her trying to make her way towards me as well, but something was wrong. She was huddled up against herself and could barely move her feet.

She was still freezing to death. But that couldn't be right. What had happened with her kiss?

Whatever the reason, now I knew, I had to do something. I put everything I had into getting to her. Closer and closer. I could see her face now. Her cheeks were blue and her hair was completely white. Time was running out!

She looked away from me for a moment. Since I was entirely too focused on her, I did not see anything else except for her, so I did not see what she was looking at, nor did I even think much of it. I just saw Anna and the danger she was in.

However, after a moment, she looked back at me wearing a longing and hopeless expression, then she turned away.

I stopped running. What was she doing?

It was then that I noticed her sister kneeling on the ground not too far off from her. And then right behind her was a man brandishing a sword. Elsa did not even notice him as she sat there on the ground. Anna did, however, and she rushed forward, standing in between her sister and the man. No! What was she doing!?

"NO!" she screamed, holding up her hand.

I watched in horror as ice sprung from Anna's chest and spread over the rest of her body, beginning to cover her completely.

"_Mama! Papa!"_

_Both their heads disappeared beneath the icy waters. My father's head first resurfaced and his hand flailed above him, gesturing towards me. "Stay back, Kristoff!" he yelled._

_I did as he said. Then his head disappeared again. The blizzard still raged around me as I wrapped my arms around my knees, watching, eyes wide, waiting for them to reappear. Finally after what seemed like ages, my mother burst out of the water, as though she were being propelled by something. I could see my father pushing her from behind, but then he fell beneath the water again._

_She landed well out of the water and on top of the ice. It began to crack beneath her, but then my father appeared behind her again and began to push. She crawled as fast as she could, staying ahead of the cracks. _

_Then she half ran, half crawled to our small sled nearby and grabbed a rope. I could see her hands were iced over, her cheeks were blue, and her hair was frozen, but she still grabbed the rope, tied it to the sled, and then made her way back to the hole in the ice._

_She tossed the rope into the freezing water. "Grab on!"_

_My father grabbed the rope and then attempted to pull himself out. I watched, eyes wide and tense as my mother pulled on the other end of the rope while my father did his best to clamber out of the frigid waters. He was almost out. My mother grabbed his arm and began to pull._

_But then all of a sudden, the ice cracked beneath my mother's feet. I watched horror-stricken as both of them toppled back into the icy water. I may have only been seven years old, but I grew up in the mountains. I knew what would happen if someone stayed in the ice waters for too long. _

_I saw that the rope my mother had grabbed was still hanging in the water. The other end was still tied to sled as well. I was too small to pull either of them out, but I had to help somehow. _

_I looked back at the hole in the ice. I could see both their heads appearing and disappearing above the surface of the water again and again, but it was slowly becoming less and less frequent. I had to do something I looked at the sled once more and got an idea. _

"_Mama! Papa! The rope!" I called to them._

_I ran to the front of the sled where our horse, Frans, stood. I began to tug on her reins. "Come on, Frans!" I urged._

_After a moment, Frans finally began to move forward. I tried to look back while pulling on Frans's reins, but could not see past the sled. What if it wasn't working?_

_After a moment, I pulled Frans to a stop. I ran around the sled and looked to the back. I saw to figures lying on the ice. They had made it! But... why weren't they getting up?_

_I rushed over to them. They were completely covered in ice and their faces were blue. I could see their chests rising and falling, but only just. _

"_Mama? Papa?" I asked tentatively._

_They didn't move._

The ice finally reached the very end of Anna's finger tips, freezing her completely. She was an ice statue. The man's sword came down on her frozen hand, shattering the blade. The impact of it sent him flying backwards and knocked him unconscious.

Elsa finally noticed what was happening around her. She saw her sister, frozen solid behind her. She stood up. "Anna!" she cried.

She touched her face. "Oh no. No. Please," she pleaded quietly.

But Anna was still frozen. She was too late. We were all too late. Elsa hugged her sister and began to sob.

Olaf approached from out of nowhere. He saw Anna and his face dropped. "Anna?" he said quietly.

I just watched, shocked. I barely even noticed Sven come up behind me. I was actually completely numb to any thought. There was nothing. I just... I could not believe it. Anna was actually gone.


	11. In the End

Like I said, at first there was just numbness. I felt nothing. It took me a moment to fully process what had happened. Anna had frozen. Frozen into solid ice. She was gone. Gone forever. I then began to slowly process what that meant. I would never get to talk to her again. Hear her laugh, see her smile, feel her touch.

_Now_ I was feeling. The weight of it was now beginning to descend upon me. My legs felt shaky and my face dropped completely. I stared crest-fallen at the queen, wrapped around Anna, sobbing. I wished I could do the same, but instead I stood back and just watched.

I lowered my head, almost by no will of my own. The sheer weight of my grief just seemed to pull it down. I closed my eyes. I had finally found a person- a human being- that I liked. Someone who might have restored my faith in humanity and made me believe that humans were not all that bad after all. Someone who was remarkable in every way... and now she was gone.

As I had my head lowered, Sven suddenly nudged me. What? What could he possibly want me to see right now? Anna was... I looked up. Wait a minute. Anna was... thawing? No. It was too good to be true. I wasn't that lucky, was I? I perked up and gave a small, timid, but hopeful smile. Could this really be happening?

The thawing was spreading from her chest and over the rest of her like when she had frozen, except instead of freezing over, the ice was disappearing. I could clearly see the color of her skin emerging from the icy blue again, her clothes began to fall loose once more, and her hair turned back to its beautiful shade of red. At last it reached her finger tips, ending, and she took a breath, resting her hand on her sister's shoulder.

I couldn't believe it... She was alive!

Elsa looked up into her face. "Anna?"

Elsa immediately stood up and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Elsa," Anna said affectionately.

"You sacrificed yourself for me?" Elsa asked.

Anna gave her a small smile. "I love you," she replied simply.

Olaf gasped in excitement. "An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!" he exclaimed, as he realized.

I felt a small smile creep onto my face as I realized it as well. Now I know some of you might be disappointed that I did not have something to do with breaking Anna's spell. I know, I was leading you in that direction. But, that was not the point of my story. I've been telling you how I helped Anna bring back summer and how I began to realize that some people are actually worth my time. My falling in love with her was just a happy accident.

And a little inside scoop on Anna's side of the story, since I am the narrator: Anna had just been scorned by her fiancee and was still trying to process what had happened with that. Purely my own speculation, but my guess is that after that, she was probably a little reluctant to come to me at that time after her fiancee fiasco and since she realized she did not truly know what love was. The only love she was absolutely certain of was her love for her sister. But that love was enough to thaw her heart. And it is beautiful.

Anyways, back to the story. Elsa considered Olaf's words for a moment. "Love will thaw..." she said slowly, then her eyes lit up, "Of course!"

"Elsa?" Anna wondered.

Elsa looked around at our surroundings and then at her hands with a confident smile. "Love!" she exclaimed.

She raised her arms. Snow began to rise around us, lifting up out of the fjord and floating into the air. I looked around at it in wonder. It was like it was snowing in reverse. Sven attempted to catch one of the snowflakes with his tongue as it floated upwards out of his reach.

The fjord was thawing. A ship began to rise up below us and float on the freshly thawed water. Elsa's thawing spread through the entire kingdom. Everyone came out to see summer returning. As a final hurrah, Elsa brought all the freeze together in one giant snowflake above our heads and whisked it away with a wave of her hands.

Anna put a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "I knew you cold do it," she said.

"Hands down, this is the best day of my life," Olaf said happily. But then he immediately and very quickly began to melt. "...And quite possibly the last," he added in good nature.

"Oh, Olaf," Elsa chuckled, "Hang on, little guy."

She waved her hand and Olaf was rebuilt in a swirl of snow. A small snow cloud appeared above his head. He looked up at it and gasped in excitement. "My own personal flurry!" he cried, and then giggled happily.

I heard some grunting from behind us. I turned and saw the man who had almost killed Elsa just a moment ago pulling himself up and rubbing his head. It was the first time I got a good look at him. Young, clean-cut, good looking aristocrat. Probably a prince... Anna never got her kiss... It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together. That man was Anna's fiancee! And he had just tried to kill the queen and was the reason Anna had turned to ice. Sure, she had thawed, but still! In any case, I was furious. I began to march towards him, ready to pound him into the ground. But Anna held out a hand, stopping me. She gave me a look telling me she wanted to handle it. I stepped back, letting her have at it.

She held her head high and approached him. He looked at her, confused. "Anna? But she froze your heart."

"The only frozen heart around here is yours," she told him curtly. Then she turned away, proud of herself. However, she promptly turned back and socked him right in the face.

He toppled overboard with a yelp, and into the water. People on shore began clapping and cheering. Wow, what a wallop! Who knew she could pack such a punch? I couldn't have been more proud.

Anna turned back. Elsa held out her arms and the two embraced. I watched, smiling. Sven came up to me and I put my arm around him. Anna gave me a smile from over her sister's shoulder. There was something in that smile that was different than any smiles she had given me before. More... affection? Tenderness?

Up until that point, I really had no idea how Anna felt about me. I knew I was in love with her, but I had always figured that she was in love with her prince. However, now, after the whole freezing to death fiasco and the punch in the face she had just given her supposed "true love", I had to wonder.

The two sisters finally released each other. That was when Elsa finally took notice of me and Sven. "So, I have not properly met you," she said.

Before I could say anything, Anna spoke up. "Oh, this is Sven and Kristoff," Anna said, gesturing to each of us in turn. She smiled, "They helped me find you in the mountains."

Elsa also smiled. "It's nice to meet you," she said formally, "I suppose thanks are in order for keeping my sister safe?"

"Ah, no. No, not necessary, your highness," I said, and I glanced at Anna, "I enjoyed it. Your sister is very lovable. Uh, that is you can't not like her... What I mean is... I erm-"

And now I was babbling. I needed to just stop talking before I said something really bad. However, Elsa just smiled at me, then she turned to Anna. "I think, since you've all been wandering out in the wild for several days, you should get a nice change of clothes and maybe a bath?"

Hang on. Who's "you all"? Surely she did not mean me and Sven too. Anna, however, perked up at her sister's words. "Ooh. That sounds good," she said.

Elsa linked arms with her sister. "Come on," she said.

They began to walk away. I just stood there beside Sven, just as confused as ever. However, I saw Elsa glance back at me, then whisper something in Anna's ear. "Oh!" I heard Anna exclaim. She looked back at me as well. "I'll take care of it," she said.

I barely had time to think before I found Anna at my side. She coyly looked up at me, her hands behind her back. "Look," she said, "Since it is a little bit, well, warmer. Maybe you might want to come and change clothes too?"

I raised an eyebrow. Anna's eyes widened as she realized what she just said. "In separate rooms! Of course! You know. Obviously," she sputtered, "We've got plenty of things that you could wear. I mean, it is a castle. I don't even know what's all hidden in there! And I've lived there my whole life. So if you wanted..."

I had to chuckle at her nervous rambling. "Sure," I interrupted her.

She stopped and looked up at me once more. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Sounds good," I said, "I've been wearing this winter gear for far too long. And I guess since you're offering..."

"Great!" Anna exclaimed, "I'll have someone find you some clothes and draw a bath."

I smiled, watching her prance down onto the docks and towards the castle, Elsa in tow. She was perfect. Even when she put her foot in her mouth. And now I guess I was going to get a change of clothes and... wait. Did she say bath?

Yes. Yes she did. It turned out, Anna was true to her word. I found a bath ready and prepared for me when I reached the palace. I'll admit, I had never in my life had a proper bath before. And let me tell you, this was quite the first experience, with a surplus of bubbles, bath salts, oils, scents, and who knows what else! There were even places to put candles around the edges, a tray for food at the side, and... was that a place to hold a wine bottle? My word! Who knew a bath could be so extravagant?

Anyways, I thought the bath a bit over the top. I just needed a change of clothes, really. But I used the bath out of courtesy, and according to my family even when I used my usual washing methods, I still end up too smelly. And if I was going to go back out there and meet Anna and the queen again... I wanted to make an impression that did not say "isolated mountain man with no sense of personal hygiene".

As I cleaned up and got dressed, I began to think about what I was about to do. I was about to go out and face Anna. Anna, who had punched her fiancee in the face. Anna who had come looking for _me_ in the blizzard. Anna who was no longer engaged and was now being a lot more tender with me. Was it at all possible she was reciprocating my feelings at all? I mean, the way she was smiling at me now. The way she just _looked _at me. They way she got all shy when she was talking to me. (That had only happened one other time after we had fallen off that two hundred foot cliff. Boy did I remember the heat I was feeling then and that certainly was not coming from any place around us).

Only time would tell I supposed. I opened the door and began to walk out only to bump right into the princess of Arendelle herself. She stumbled backwards, crashed right into a passing maid with a cart, propelling her forward, and straight into my chest.

Now don't get any ideas that this was a romantic hold because it was anything but. Her face was squashed awkwardly into my chest, one hand flung over my shoulder, the other hanging limp at her side. I caught her by her shoulders. "Whoa! Anna!" I exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

She pulled her face out of my chest and looked up at me. "Kristoff? Wha...?" she stared at me for a moment, processing, "I'm- yeah. I just didn't expect a door to open up in my face."

I cracked a smile. "Tell me, are you always this graceful?" I asked, gesturing to her position.

"Are you always so rude not to apologize for opening doors into people's faces?" she asked, cracking a smile.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," I replied, chuckling.

She giggled as well. It was then that I realized I was still holding onto her. I quickly released her and she stepped back. We just stared at each other for a moment. It reminded me greatly of our little stare-off when we fell off the cliff at Elsa's ice palace. There was that heat coming out of nowhere again, but I jst could not bring myself to look away from those gorgeous blue eyes.

"Oh! I have something for you!" Anna said after a second.

Really? What else could she possibly do for me? I just looked at her. "What is it?" I asked.

She grinned mischievously. "It's a surprise," she replied. She held up a long strip of cloth, "Put this on."

I frowned. "What? Why?"

"Because it's a _surprise_!" Anna said.

I smirked, then took the blindfold and wrapped it around my eyes. "Okay," I said, once I finished tying the knot, "What's the surprise?"

"Come on!" Anna cried.

And with that, she grabbed my arm and yanked me along with her. She pulled me by the arm at top speed across... I wasn't even sure. I _was_ blindfolded after all. We went quite a distance though and she was _very_ excited. I don't think I had ever seen (or not seen) her so excited. What could she possibly want to show me?

"Come on, come on, come on!" she said, trying her best to contain her eagerness as she pulled me along.

"Okay, okay. Here I come," I told her, attempting to keep my balance as I stumbled over the cobblestones as I tried to keep up with her.

Suddenly, I collided with a very hard metal pole and lost contact with Anna's hand. My face throbbed with pain, but I couldn't help, but be amused at the fact the Anna was actually so excited that she was not watching where she was going.

"Pole," I grunted, backing away from it.

"Sorry," Anna said, taking my hand again and pulling on it once more.

We finally reached her intended destination and I could feel her bouncing in place in her delight at my side. "Okay," she said, "Here we are."

She quickly removed my blindfold and gave a tiny, happy squeal of excitement. As my eyes adjusted, I looked ahead for what she wanted to show me and my eyes widened.

In front of us sat the most beautiful, ornate sled I think I had ever seen in my entire life. A giant red bow was even tied around it. Sitting on the seat was a brand new lute which also had a red bow tied around it. There might've been some other stuff sitting in the back, but I was too focused on the sled itself to notice. Sven stood beside it and placed his hoof on the front, posing, as though he came as an accessory.

"I owe you a sled," Anna said.

My jaw went slack as I stared at the gorgeous piece of craftsmanship. "Are you serious?" I asked, dumbstruck.

"Yes!" Anna cried happily, "And it's the latest model."

I had totally forgotten about our little deal. Besides, when she had said she was going to replace my sled, I had thought she was just going to get me something along the same lines as my old one, but this... this was so beyond what I used to have. How could I even begin to accept this? How could I even begin to _deserve_ this?

Still completely dumbstruck, I said, without taking my eyes off the sled, "No. I can't accept this."

"You have too!" Anna said sternly, "No returns. No exchanges. Queen's orders. She's named you the official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer."

She gestured to the silver medal hanging around a very proud Sven's neck. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "What? That's not a thing," I said, slightly amused at her enthusiasm.

"Oh sure it is," she said, waving away my skepticism and turning back to the sled, "And it even has a cup holder." She looked at me tentatively, "Do you like it?"

Did I like it? Did I _like _it? This was beyond anything I could have hoped for! I grinned at her. "Like it? I love it!" I said happily.

Like her, I really could not contain myself. I'm not really sure what came over me because I suddenly swept her off her feet and began to spin her around. She cried out in surprise, but then laughed along with me.

"I could kiss you!" I declared.

Wait. Did I just say that? The impact of my words suddenly hit me and I quickly dropped her, embarrassed. I suddenly didn't know what to do with my hands and became very aware of her watching me.

"Uh, I could. I mean, I'd like to," I said quickly. I _did_ want to kiss her actually. But how do you even go about that? I could ask her, I supposed. At least that was the solution I came up with, spur of the moment: "I'd... May I? We me... I mean, may we? Wait, what?"

Now I had no idea what I was even saying. Could I sound like a bigger idiot? I frowned at myself. But suddenly I felt a pair of soft lips against my cheek and I was immediately snapped out of my embarrassment. I turned to look towards the owner. Anna was looking up at me, compressing a smile.

"We may," she said simply.

I could? I could! We could! I smiled and decided to just go for it. I put a hand on her cheek, stooped down to her level, and pressed my lips to hers. Soon we had our arms wrapped around each other. I am not even going to begin to try and describe how incredible that first kiss was, but I will tell you that I personally believe that all other kisses in the history of everything blind in comparison (but that's just me).

And now I suppose you're wondering about the other loose ends like Elsa, what happened to Anna's fiancee Prince Hans, how the kingdom fared after the winter, and so on.

Well, first off regarding Prince Hans, he was sent back to his own country to be dealt with there for his crimes. It turned out he never loved Anna in the first place and was just using her to marry into the throne. He planned on marrying her, killing Elsa and becoming king through their marriage. I wouldn't be surprised if he had planned on getting rid of Anna as well since he did intentionally leave her to freeze to death. A manipulative jerk is putting it _so_ mildly. But what I'm really thinking, I really cannot say here as it mind offend some people.

Then Elsa and the kingdom both kind of tie in together. Elsa was loved and accepted by the kingdom after she ended the eternal winter. She mended the damaged areas of the kingdom with ice, rebuilt the castle, she even created an ice rink in the castle courtyard, open to anybody and everybody. The castle gates were never closed again and Elsa ruled for years with a firm, yet loving hand.

And of course, as for me and Anna. Yes, we did get married eventually. No, it was not after one day, don't be ridiculous. We took our time, but eventually it did happen. Sven and Olaf lived happily at the castle with us and are just as good of friends as ever.

So there you have it. How I, a loner mountain man who hated people, met a fantastic girl (even though it was the last thing on my mind at the time), and helped her bring back summer.

You know, ice is a beautiful thing. It comes in many different shapes, sizes, and forms. But it also has a dark and deadly side. Even with all the pain it has caused me through my life, I still found it to be beautiful and always worth my time. I've come to realize, people are kind of the same. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and forms, but also have a dark side. But that doesn't mean they can't be beautiful too. Even with the icy force, foul and fair, ice always has a frozen heart worth mining. Anna has shown me, even with all the difficulties, and beatings, and cursings I've put up with from other people, just like ice, some people are also worth mining.

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_And thats a wrap! Thank you so much for reading, you guys! It's been fun!_


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